


Star Wars: Legacy of the Force

by BuffShipper



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ahch-To, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ben Solo Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Battle of Exegol (Star Wars), Bisexual Ben Solo, Canon Universe, Canto Bight, Creepy Snoke (Star Wars), Dark Rey (Star Wars), Dark Side Rey, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Sex, F/F, F/M, Female Finn (Star Wars), Flashbacks, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Bondage, Force Choking (Star Wars), Force Dyad (Star Wars), Force Lightning, Force Visions, Force-Sensitive Leia Organa, Gen, Han Solo's A+ Parenting, Interrogation, Jakku, Jedi Ben Solo, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, Lightsaber Battles, M/M, MacGuffins, Mentioned Darth Vader, Mentioned Kylo Ren, Minor Ben Solo/Finn, Minor Leia Organa/Han Solo, Minor Poe Dameron/Finn, Padawan Ben Solo, Padawan Rey, Past Ben Solo/Tai, Past Child Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Sexual Abuse, Planet Crait (Star Wars), Planet D'Qar (Star Wars), Planet Exegol (Star Wars), Planet Kef Bir | Ocean Moon of Endor (Star Wars), Planet Mustafar (Star Wars), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rey (Star Wars) is a Mess, Rey Needs A Hug, Rey is a Palpatine (Star Wars), Sith Holocrons (Star Wars), Slow Burn, Slow Burn Rey/Kylo Ren, Smuggler Ben Solo, Soft Ben Solo, Space Battles, Space Opera, Starkiller Base, Stormtrooper Rebellion (Star Wars), Supreme Leader Rey (Star Wars), The Force, The Force Ships It, Torture, Uncle Chewbacca (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:33:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 53
Words: 91,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26599129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuffShipper/pseuds/BuffShipper
Summary: The Sequel Trilogy reimagined with smuggler Ben Solo reluctant to take on the family mantle of Jedi in the fight against the mysterious Kira Ren and the diabolical First Order
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader & Luke Skywalker, Ben Solo & Han Solo, Ben Solo/Tai (Star Wars), Chewbacca & Ben Solo, Chewbacca & Han Solo, Finn & Ben Solo, Finn/Rose Tico, Knights of Ren & Rey, Leia Organa & Ben Solo, Leia Organa & Ben Solo & Han Solo, Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa/Han Solo, Luke Skywalker & Ben Solo, Luke Skywalker & Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Luke Skywalker, Paige Tico & Rose Tico, Poe Dameron & Finn, Rey & Snoke (Star Wars), Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 529
Kudos: 117





	1. Title Crawl

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

 **STAR WARS**

**LEGACY OF THE FORCE**

LUKE SKYWALKER has vanished.

In his absence, the sinister FIRST ORDER has risen from the ashes of the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed.

With the support of the NEW REPUBLIC, General LEIA ORGANA leads a brave RESISTANCE. She is desperate to find her brother Luke and gain his help in restoring peace and justice to the galaxy.

Leia has sent her most daring pilot on a secret mission to Jakku, where an old ally has discovered a clue to Luke's whereabouts....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story starts with events similar to The Force Awakens, and thus shares a similar title crawl.


	2. Raid on Jakku

**Tuanul Villiage, Jakku**

On the surface, Jakku could be seen as just another hole-in-the-wall, backwater desert junk planet in the Outer Rim. 

But on closer examination, one could see that Jakku was much more than what it appeared. The site of the final battle of the Galactic Civil War five years years after the downfall of Emperor Palpatine, its expansive sand dunes were littered with the hot, weather stripped husks of star destroyers and AT-ATs, components and machinery picked apart over time by scavengers and sold for meager food portions as a means of survival in the unforgiving landscape.

Upon an even closer examination, unbeknownst to even most of the inhabitants, deep beneath the sandy surface and within the vast mountain ranges, lied the secret hidden laboratories of the fallen Emperor as a part of the Sith Lord's Contingency plan to continue his Empire in the possibility of his death.

Yes, Jakku was much more than it appeared, and twenty-five years after the Battle of Jakku, little had changed in that regard.

One village in particular, Tuanul, a peaceful, rural village surrounded by sparse vegetation and an assortment of indigenous life-forms, was one such community on Jakku that was much more than it appeared, being home to a secret, though none passing by would have had suspected it, nor had any inclination to linger.

It was for this particular secret however, that one decidedly non-native creature was here. Consisting of a rounded head floating above a much larger sphere, it was a dull white with striking orange markings. Designated BB-8, the droid was, at the moment, very, very concerned.

Where most organic beings would see only empty night sky, BB-8's advanced calibrated synthetic optics saw a moving point of light. When the light split into four separate points and descended in a controlled, rapidly slowing path, the droid commenced an agitated beeping. As the lights continued in the observed fashion, BB-8 performed an almost instantaneous calculation on its touchdown. Too near for coincidence. 

Beeping and whistling in something approaching cybernetic panic, the droid spun its head and sped its spherical body back toward the village. 

While it could have transmitted the conclusion it had reached, it did not do so for fear of any such message being intercepted, possibly by those it feared might be inhabiting the source of the four descending lights.

No, BB-8 would have to hurry, hurry past the motley group of mixed galactic peoples, working on repairing or modifying the assortment of machinery that they would resell in larger towns or cities on Jakku.

BB-8 would have to hurry past various native wildlife, who'd squawk, roar, or growl in protest as the droid blazed recklessly through them to its goal, a dwelling like so many others in the village, an odd amalgamation of the technoligical and the primitive, the reason why it and its master were there: the home of Lor San Tekka.

***

Though he was exhausted from his long and difficult mission, Poe Dameron tried not to let it show. He had come a long way on behalf of the Resistance and General Leia Organa herself to be here, and to be before such a venerated figure like the wise Lor San Tekka, he would not let his fatigue tarnish the honor.

Poe of course, could always be counted upon to appear nothing but supremely confident and proud, to some to the point of arrogance. Olive-skinned, a handsome face framed by waves of dark, thick hair, his lean physique draped by a worn-down red and tan flight jacket, much in contrast to the elderly figure before him, whose once imposing manner as a galactic explorer and soldier of fortune had softened with age and maturity.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries before a warm hearth, San Tekka drew close and placed a small leather sack into the pilot's open palm before covering both with his own hand.

"This will begin to make things right," Lor San Tekka assured. "I've traveled too far, and seen too much despair in the galaxy. Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the Force."

Poe didn't know about all that Force stuff, but he nevertheless graciously accepted the sack. "Well, because of you, now we have a chance. The General's been after this for a long time."

"The General?" The old man scoffed. "To me, she's royalty."

Poe smiled and glanced toward the hut opening. "Well, she certainly is that."

BB-8 came wheeling into the hut, beeping frantically.

Concerned, Poe turned to San Tekka. "We got company."

The two left the hut in a hurry, and Poe looked through his quadnocs into the night sky once they were outside. Lights on the horizon: approaching enemy ships.

Poe was unnerved. But he thought of the old man first. He turned to him. "You have to hide!"

San Tekka shook his head. "You have to leave! Go!"

Poe was conflicted, but he finally nodded and hurried off towards the far end of the village with BB-8 at his heels.

As he ran, he was passed by the armed villagers, however the alarm had been raised he did not know, nor did he pause to wonder why. His X-wing was parked some distance from the village, well hidden beneath a high rock outcropping, though it wouldn’t shield the X-wing from sophisticated search gear. Poe needed to exit the atmosphere, and fast.

Hurrying to the cockpit as BB-8 rolled into the copiloting position, Poe anxiously activated the controls, and its instrumentation flared to life.

In the distance, a swarm of white armored stormtroopers could be seen approaching the village. Those villagers who had armed themselves attempted to mount a defense, though in this instance, bravery was a poor match for elite training and advanced equipment. As more and more of their number went down, the villagers had no choice but to pull back, giving themselves up, surrendering in twos and threes.

As penned animals panicked and broke free, several of the specially equipped flame troopers began setting chosen structures afire. To an outraged Poe, there seemed no good reason for it. But then, to those behind the First Order, sowing fear and terror was merely politics by another means.

His parents fought the terrors of the Galactic Empire. Their second incarnation, the First Order, were no different.

His angry thoughts were interrupted by a stream of anxious beeping from the droid.

“We’re going, BB-8, we’re going! Almost there…” Poe replied anxiously, thumbing another control. Landing lights snapped on as engines whined to life.

He was a second from taking off when the ship was hit. The pair of stormtroopers had come up on them, unseen.

Even through the shock, confusion, and anger, Poe could see that the stormtroopers line of approach was rather stupidly in line with his weapons array, so Poe hit the control that deployed the drop-down pivoting gun from the belly of his X-wing, then fired.

Having succinctly eliminated the intruders, Poe quickly returned his attention to the X-wing’s instrumentation.

An ascending whining noise rose from the rear of the ship. Shuddering slightly, it started to move out from beneath the protective rock. Strapped into the pilot’s seat, Poe flinched in response to the unexpected vibration. The X-wing stopped, but the rising whine did not.

"Shit."

After quickly shutting down to prevent any further damage to the engines, Poe popped the canopy and scrambled out. Hurrying to the back of the ship, he stared hard at the now inert engines. The two stormtroopers might not have been tactically sophisticated, but they had certainly been good shots. The damage to the engines was severe. BB-8 rolled up beside him. 

Thinking quickly, Poe removed an artifact from the leather pouch he received from San Tekka, its significance far exceeding its size.

After a moment of fumbling with BB-8’s exterior, Poe inserted the artifact into the droid. A confirming beep indicated that it was securely lodged.

Satisfied, Poe stood to survey the glow of the burning village.

“Get as far away from here as you can,” Poe ordered BB-8. “Any direction, so long as it’s away from this place.”

When the droid’s anxious electronic response indicated it was hesitant to comply with the command, Poe added emphasis to his voice. “Yeah, I’m gonna take out as many of those bucketheads as I can. BB-8 , I’ll come back for you. Go! Don’t worry—it’ll be all right. Wherever you end up, I’ll find you.”

BB-8 continued to hesitate, but Poe had wasted little time in abandoning the X-wing to join the fray, so the droid finally turned and rolled off, accelerating across the sand and away from the village. 

***

In the village, the fight continued as its inhabitants fought back, refusing to give up, knowing that mercy would not be given by the First Order.

Shot straight on, a trooper went down in a mass of shattered armor, shredded flesh, and blood. One of his companions immediately rushed to his side and knelt to render assistance. A torn, bloody glove lifted toward the would-be rescuer, shockingly bare fingers protruding from the torn protective covering.

Faces behind helmets stared at one another. With a shock, the trooper who had arrived to render aid to her fallen comrade recognized the one whose life was now bleeding out inside his armor. They had trained together, though, as she could see, live combat was no simulation.

A brief, final flailing by the downed trooper splattered the newcomer’s white helmet with blood before falling lifelessly to the ground. There was no assistance to be rendered here, the second trooper realized.

Straightening, she surveyed the hell in which she found himself. Her unfired weapon hung at her side, and she stumbled off in a daze, away from her dead comrade, wandering aimlessly through the embattled village.

Numbly taking in the horrors of battle, the trooper was startled the sudden thunder of an arriving dropship that appeared above the fire and smoke. A sharp nudge from behind momentarily threw her off balance. A glance found her locking gazes with a superior who gestured towards the dropship.

The superior's voice was curt. “Back to your team. This isn’t over yet.”

The shell-shocked stormtrooper nodded in recognition and hurried off, quickly falling in line as the dropship touched down.

***

Poe ran towards the village, but he could see that the skirmish was over before it began in favor of the First Order, and that any intervention by him would be nothing short of wasteful suicide. He ducked behind a mass of rubble a safe distance away, and he watched the the arrival of a mysterious new dropship.

The dropship was far more imposing than those with which Poe was familiar, boasting exceptionally high folding wings and a raptor-like silhouette. Enraptured, he watched the figures inside exit the opening bay doors through a cloud of vapor.

The tall, silver chromium-plated stormtrooper Captain Phasma was the first out to survey the battle damage, blaster rifle at the ready, followed by her squad of elite stormtroopers. Phasma stopped at the bottom of the ramp, and her stormtroopers arranged in an honor guard formation in a pair of rows extending from the ramp, heralding the presence of someone who Poe could imagine was either important, terrifying, or both.

Having been raised on stories of a tall, looming, menacing figure in the form of Darth Vader, Poe expected someone of at least that stature, a menacing mask, a sweeping cape perhaps, to walk down that ramp.

What he saw, however, was the a petite young girl, about his height, barely out of her teens, draped in a black cloaked, her pale face half obscured by a broad hood, striding imperiously to a detained, but resolute Lor San Tekka. 

The firelight gleamed off her pale skin, illuminating the half of her face that was hidden by shadow. She had large, expressive eyes, narrowed into slits as she eyed her prisoner.

"Look how old you've become," the young girl greeted condescendingly with a husky, feminine voice and a distinctly refined accent.

"Something far worse has happened to you, m'lady," San Tekka replied, his voice even and patient.

"You know what I've come for," she said, forgoing small talk altogether.

"I know where you come from," San Tekka deflected. "Before you called yourself Kira Ren."

A grimace crossed the girl's face.

"The map to Skywalker," Kira Ren snapped. "We know you found it, and now you're going to give it to the First Order."

"The First Order rose from the Dark Side, as have you, but that need not be your destiny," San Tekka bore into her dark eyes, almost pleading.

"I'll show you the Dark Side," Kira growled, impatience lacing every word.

"I've seen it, as I have seen the Light," San Tekka's gaze was as intense as her's, but warm in contrast to her harshness. "In you."

Suddenly, Kira Ren raised her long-hilted lightsaber and ignited it, its yellow and red blade spitting sparks and smoke.

"See this light!" And with that, Kira Ren ripped it down across the old man, ending him instantly.

Poe saw this, and he began to run towards the girl, aiming a blaster bolt at her.

Kira turned and raised her pale hand, freezing Poe's blast in an instant, the bolt of energy straining and vibrating in midair.

Kira glared at Poe, and the pilot found that he suddenly could not move, no matter how much he strained to. 

The stormtroopers nearby rushed to grab him and drag him past the vibrating, frozen blast to the dirt before Kira's feet. 

The stormtroopers held him down as Kira sauntered closer. Up close, Poe was further taken by the girl's beauty and petite size, almost contrasting her apparent otherworldly power, but his slackjawed approximation of Kira was interrupted by a stormtrooper kicking out his legs from under him, causing him to land hard on his knees.

Kira kneeled to get a look at Poe, her head tilting like a curious cat.

"So who talks first?" Poe quipped nervously. "You talk first?"

Kira rolled her eyes. "The old man gave it to you."

"That's a lovely accent you have," Poe countered. "Core..."

Kira stood and gestured to the troopers. "Ugh. Search him."

"...worlds?" Poe finished as the stormtroopers roughly patted him down.

One of the troopers who had dragged Poe forward pulled a small device from his service belt, the other trooper slowly passed it the length of the prisoner’s body, beginning at his head and ending at his feet. The examination did not take long.

“Nothing,” declared the first stormtrooper, standing at attention.

Poe winked up at the trooper who had used his hands. “Good job.”

Forgetting himself for a moment, the goaded trooper aimed a punch at his face, connecting to a still defiant Poe.

The other trooper gestured with the handheld instrument. “Same here, Lady Ren. Internally, this one is clean. Nothing but the expected food residue. Shall we terminate him?”

Kira Ren sighed. She hated delays, but would remain patient. 

“No. Keep him," Kira replied, pausing before adding “Intact and functioning.”

Plainly disappointed, the two troopers dragged Poe away.

Kira watched them for a moment, her mind still focused on the execution of San Tekka. Foolish, idealistic old man. He knew nothing of her, only a brief memory of a little girl whose innocence was lost long ago.

For now, there were other details to attend to. She had regrettably allowed her thoughts to be briefly diverted, further wasting her time. Time already wasted dealing with the fruitless execution of the old man. Awaiting her orders, Captain Phasma approached.

“Your orders, Lady Ren?” she murmured.

Kira Ren surveyed her blazing surroundings. She had already spent too much time here, to only minimal satisfaction. “Kill them all, Captain Phasma, and search the village. You know what to look for.”

A single nod and Phasma turned. A line of troopers stood before the assembled surviving villagers. “On my command!” Weapons were raised.

The villagers cried in despair and shouted in defiance. None of it lasted very long.

“Fire!”

To the First Order, it wasn’t a massacre. It was nothing more than a prescribed chastisement, retribution for harboring a fugitive of note.

It only took less than a minute. When it was over, the troopers dispersed to carry out a final survey and scan of the debris—inorganic and otherwise.

Standing by herself, the one trooper with a bloody face mask was startled when a hand came down on her shoulder. Though the hand belonged to a comrade, the first trooper did not relax.

“Notice you didn’t fire. Blaster jam?” Automatically, the trooper being questioned nodded in response.

Her comrade gestured knowingly and clapped her on the shoulder. “Turn it in when we get back to base. Let the tech boys deal with it and get yourself a new one.”

“Thanks. I will.”

No sooner had the second trooper departed to rejoin his own unit than the trooper found herself gaping at the small, dark-clad figure striding purposefully toward the lone dropship that had set down in the midst of battle.

Though she willed himself to move, to turn away, the trooper found she could not. She remained rooted in place, clutching her unfired weapon, whether out of fear or something else, she did not know. In response, the cloaked figure of Kira Ren turned and looked sideways, directly at the trooper, scrutinizing her with narrowed eyes.

The glance lasted barely a second, and then Kira resumed her pace, deep in thought as she strode toward the dropship. The trooper breathed a sigh of relief, and hurried back to her own unit to board the waiting transports out of there as the rest of her comrades searched, raided, and ransacked the village.

With Poe Dameron's X-wing found and thoroughly searched to no avail, the troopers fired upon it with their plasma cannons, its explosion reverberating across the desert night, illuminating the departing transports in a brilliant light as they took off towards the Jakku sky.


	3. Escape from The Finalizer

**The _Finalizer_ , Jakku Atmosphere.**

Poe Dameron had been put in shackles and roughly escorted to the troop transport, though the restraints were removed as soon as he and his captors disembarked on Kira Ren's Star Destroyer, The _Finalizer_.

Aboard the Star Destroyer, there was no reason to physically restrain the prisoner. He wouldnt be going anywhere in a hurry, and even if he did, he wouldn't be going far without being turned into a blaster target.

Apparently enjoying themselves, or perhaps merely impatient to get out of their armor, his escorts trafficked him along with what Poe considered to be unnecessary roughness.

Not that stormtroopers were noted for their diplomacy. Considering whom he had tried to shoot not only them but their dark leader Kira Ren, Poe knew he ought to consider himself fortunate that they had brought him aboard still attached to all his important appendages. A physical state of being, he knew, that could be altered at any moment. As they led him to Interrogation, he knew that moment had to be coming soon.

***

On the other side of the enormous receiving bay, other troopers were filing out, some chatting amongst themselves about the expedition, others looking forward to some rest and nourishment. Away from the battlefield, they paid no attention to one of their own who fell behind.

When she was convinced no one was looking at her, the trooper in question turned and raced back into the open transport. She removed her helmet and proceeded to void the contents of her stomach into the nearest refuse receptacle.

The terror in her usually youthful and attractive face was palpable, a sheen of sweat glistened on her smooth, dark skin.

Fortunately, there was no one there to witness her disgrace. There was, however, now someone behind her.

Terror gave way to cold fear as she found herself gazing back at Captain Phasma.

How much had the senior officer seen? How much did she know?

Too much, as it turned out.

Aloof yet commanding, Phasma indicated the rifle the trooper still carried. “FN-2187. I understand you experienced some difficulty with your weapon. Please be so good as to submit it for inspection by your division’s technical team.”

“Yes, Captain.” How she managed to reply without stammering, FN-2187 did not know. Instinct as opposed to training, she decided. Self-preservation.

“And who gave you permission to remove that helmet?”

She swallowed hard. “I’m sorry, Captain.”

She could feel the captain's disgust as she struggled to put the blood-smeared helmet back over her head.

“Report to my division at once,” Phasma said, voice dripping with contempt.

Worse, she knew miserably, was likely to come later. 

***

Poe Dameron woke up with a start, and with a pounding headache. Actually, it was hard to pinpoint what part of him didn't ache. Those stormtroopers really did a number on him.

He was in a dimly lit room. He tried to move to explore his cell, but found that he couldn't. He looked down. A glint of durasteel indicated that he was bound to some sort of restraining slab.

"I had no idea we had the best pilot in the Resistance on board," a now horribly familiar feminine voice whispered from the shadows.

Poe flinched. Like a ghost, Kira Ren materialized out of the darkness, a faux friendly smile etched on her face as she regarded him. "Comfortable?"

Poe replied through battered lips. "Not really."  
  
The false smile remained on the girl's face. "I'm impressed. No one has been able to get out of you what you did with the map."

Despite himself, Poe grinned and winked at her. "Might wanna rethink your technique."

The flirtation and double entendre in his voice was obvious. Kira had been around enough lecherous men and women to pick up on it.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Kira purred, her friendly smile twisting into something more sinister. She pressed herself against him and ran her hand up the inner thigh of his pants.

Poe dared himself to breath. Kira's face was close...too close...her lips parted, eyes closed...

"URK!" Poe grimaced as her hand closed over his testicles in a vice-like grip. The one area the troopers thankfully didn't abuse, and now his captor was threatening to rip them off.

"Where is it?!" Kira snarled, squeezing even harder on his most sensitive of areas. "TELL ME!"

"T-the R-R-Resistance will.. n-not be intimidated... b-buh-by you!" gasped Poe, eyes watering in agony as Kira squeezed, twisted, and pulled down on his genitals.

Kira released her crushing grip on him and stepped back, saying nothing. She then reached out for his face, though not touching him, and Poe's head slammed into the headrest of the restraining slab.

"Where. Is. It?" Kira repeated.

Poe couldn't endure the psychic invasion that came next. It was like his brain was being ripped apart, every thought, memory, and emotion laid bare and cast aside as Kira rifled through his thoughts.

Not only that, but Kira was activating the pain receptors of his brain on purpose. The torture was meant to be as physical as it was mental. 

"AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Poe's screams reverberated throughout the corridors of the Star Destroyer, and those that walked by the interrogation cell picked up their pace for fear of joining the prisoner. 

***

 _WHOOOSH_!

The cell door slid up and Kira Ren exited, her expression fierce. She came face-to-face with the pale, ginger-haired General Hux, who regarded her with a thinly veiled sneer.

Ambitious, cunning, and deceitful, Hux never hid his disbelief and disgust that a _girl_ , even one as supernaturally gifted as she, could rise to the top of the Order and be so attached to the Supreme Leader's confidence as Kira was.

"It's in a droid," Kira reported without pleasantries. "A BB unit."

"Well then. If it's on Jakku, we'll soon have it," Hux replied condescendingly, as if she was just another underling to delegate to.

"I leave that to you," Kira dismissed with the same condescension, walking off without another word.

***

WHOOSH!

Poe stirred as a stormtrooper entered his cell to join the stormtrooper that stood guard over him when Ren left. He was definitely worse for wear, and what the second stormtrooper said next chilled him to the bone.

"Ren wants the prisoner," the new stormtrooper said.

Poe wanted to cry out in pain as the guard roughly unlatched him from the restraining slab and shoved him toward the new stormtrooper, but he wouldn't give them the satisfaction. He gave them everything, but he wouldn't give them anymore.

The new stormtrooper poked a blaster at his back and led him out of the interrogation cell and down a long corridor.

"Turn here," the stormtrooper eventually ordered Poe.

Poe turned into a narrow passageway, anticipating a quick execution right then and there. 

"Listen carefully," the trooper said, stopping Poe in the middle of the passageway. "You do exactly as I say, I can get you out of here."

Poe jerked in surprise. "If -- what--?"

The stormtrooper pulled off the ubiquitous white helmet: it was FN-2187.  
  
"This is a rescue, I'm helping you escape," announced FN-2187. "Can you fly a TIE fighter?"

It wasn't that Poe was surprised to a woman under the helmet, it was her beauty. And considering he was just nearly castrated a short time ago, he had learned to be cautious around these First Order women. This could be a ruse, perhaps set up by Kira Ren herself, but Poe didn't really have any other options right now. He'd have to play along.

"You with the Resistance--?!" Poe questioned.

"What?" FN-2187 blinked. "No no no! I'm breaking you out. Can you fly a TIE fighter?"

"I can fly anything," Poe replied confidently. "Why, why are you helping me?"  
  
"Because it's the right thing to do," FN-2187 said earnestly.  
  
"You need a pilot," Poe realized.

"I need a pilot," FN-2187 confessed.

"We're gonna do this," Poe nodded, his devil-may-care grin smile returning to his battered face.

FN-2187 was unsure but hopeful "... Yeah?"

Poe nodded again. "Yeah!"

***

The two made their way through the hangar. FN-2187 was again masked, her blaster poked into Poe's back. By all appearances she was escorting a prisoner, the ruse so convincing that a group of officers passed by in the opposite direction.

"Okay, stay calm, stay calm," FN-2187 muttered.  
  
"I am calm," Poe pointed out.

"I'm talking to myself," FN-2187 admitted before pausing behind a corner. "Not yet. Okay, go. This way."

FN-2187 walked quickly toward the far wall of the hangar, where a two-man Special Forces TIE Fighter stood.

Looking around, the two hurried up the stairs to the cockpit of the TIE, their hearts thundering in their chests as they prayed not to be seen.  
  
Poe winced in lingering pain as he and FN-2187 dropped into the back-to-back cockpit.

FN-2187 pulled off her helmet as Poe removed his cuffs and jacket, firing up the ship with excitement.

"I always wanted to fly one of these things!" chuckled Poe as the lights flickered on. "Can ya shoot?"

"Blasters, I can!" FN-2187 replied.  
  
"Okay, same principle!" Poe instructed. "Use the toggle on the left to switch between missiles, cannons, and mag pulse --use the site on the right to aim, triggers to fire!"  
  
"This is very complicated," muttered FN-2187, suddenly feeling as if she's in way over her head.

 _FWOOOOOOM_!

The TIE Fighter lurched forward, struggling to rise against the charging cables still attached to it.

"I can fix this," Poe assured, punching buttons.

FN-2187 sure hoped so.

Little did the two know that they were in the control room of the Star Destroyer hangar bay, and that their struggle against the charging cables were being closely monitored, and that stormtroopers were being sent to impede their escape.

A squad of stormtroopers charged in, aiming megablasters as Poe and FN-2187's stolen TIE Fighter lifted off from the bay, ripping the charging cables from the vehicle.

FN-2187 opened fire, tearing up parked TIE Fighters and gun emplacements with well-aimed, strategic cannon blasts, hitting the Control Room and blowing out the hangar bay windows.   
  
"I got it!" Poe rocketed their TIE from the ship, exalted in the rush and freedom the escape. "Woooahhh! This thing really moves. All right, we gotta take out as many cannons as we can or we're not gonna get very far!"  
  
"All right!" FN-2187 called back, her co-pilot's enthusiasm infectious.

"I'm gonna get us in position, just stay sharp!" instructed Poe, piloting the TIE Fighter to arc back, diving through the opening between the levels of the massive ship, then flying down and back along the ship's belly towards the ship's cannons.

"Up ahead! Up ahead! You see it?" Poe called back to FN-2187, referring to the _Finalizer's_ cannons. "I've got us dead centered. It's a clean shot."

"Okay, got it!" FN-2187 replied, firing the TIE's blasters, exploding a series of the Finalizer's cannons.

FN-2187 whooped in celebration as their TIE Fighter sliced through the debris. "YES! You see that?! DID YOU SEE THAT?!"

"I saw it!" laughed Poe. "Hey, what's your name?"  
  
"FN-2187!" replied FN-2187 with a second's hesitation.

"FN-whaa?" Poe reacted. He felt sorry the poor girl, and suddenly a little bit sorry for her former comrades. No names, just letter designations and numbers.

"That's the only name they ever gave me!" FN-2187 admitted.

"Well I ain't using it! FN, huh?" Poe considered for a moment. "Finn. Finley? That all right?"

FN-2187 smiled, sounding the words out. "'Finley'. Yeah, 'Finley'. I like Finley! Finn for short!"  
  
"I'm Poe, Poe Dameron."  
  
"Good to meet you, Poe!" the newly named Finley replied. 

"Good to meet you too, Finn!" Poe celebrated as they flew away from the damaged Star Destroyer.

***

On the bridge of the Finalizer, General Hux looked over the shoulder of the meek-looking Lieutenant Mitaka at a computer console.  
  
"Sir, they've taken out our turbolasers--" Mitaka began.  
  
"Use the ventral cannons," Hux ordered.

"Yes, sir. Bringing them online --" Mitaka complied.  
  
"General Hux," Kira Ren's voice demanded from what seemed to Hux out of nowhere. He hated when she did that. "Is it the Resistance pilot?"

Hux turned. The shorter Kira Ren was already at his side, and annoyed.  
  
"Yes, and he had help," reported Hux, vexed. "From one of our own."

Kira's jaw tightened.

"We're checking the registers now to identify which stormtrooper it was," continued Hux.  
  
"The one from the village. FN-2187," Kira deduced.

Hux was unnerved that Kira knew, though he eventually chalked it up to her enigmatic Force abilities.

Without another word to either men, Kira headed off.

"Sir. Ventral cannons hot," alerted Mitaka.  
  
"Fire." 

***

  
Massive warhead launchers spun and fired blasts toward Finn and Poe's TIE fighter, which flew evasive maneuvers, and luckily for them most of the blasts hit the debris from the turbolaser destruction. The TIE then pulled a big turn, back toward Jakku.  
  
"One's coming towards you," Poe pointed out. "My right, your left. Do you see it?"  
  
Finn checked out her targeting screen, indicating an incoming warhead. "Hold on! I see it!

She fired.   
  
"Nice shot!" Poe said as they sped towards the planet

"Where are you going?!" Finley demanded, looking up in alarm.

"We're going back to Jakku," Poe declared. "That's where."  
  
"No no no! We can't go back to Jakku!" protested Finley. "We need to get outta this system!"

"I got to get to my droid before the First Order does!" Poe argued, piloting aggressively to avoid laser blasts and warheads.  
  
"What - a droid?!" Finley exclaimed.  
  
"That's right!" Poe explained. "He's a BB unit! Orange and white: one of a kind."  
  
"I don't care what color he is!" countered Finley. "No droid can be that important!"

"This one is, pal!" Poe said.   
  
"We need to get as far away from the First Order as we can!" Finley yelled, trying to talk sense into her new friend. "We go back to Jakku, we die!"  
  
"That droid's got a map that leads straight to Luke Skywalker!" reasoned Poe.  
  
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me!!! I--" Finley began, but suddenly---

_BAM_! The TIE was hit!  
  
The TIE Fighter sparked and smoked, spiraling out of control toward the sandy surface of Jakku!

A blur of colors, the scream of engines roar of rushing wind, and then a sudden, silent blackness.


	4. An Unlikely Rescue

**The _Finalizer_. Jakku Atmosphere**

On the bridge of the _Finalizer_ , Captain Phasma and General Hux stood before a holographic projection detailing FN-2187's service records.  
  
"FN-2187 reported to my division, was evaluated and sent to Reconditioning," Phasma explained.  
  
"No prior signs of non-conformity?" Hux asked, his gloved hands clasped behind his back.

Phasma shook her helmeted head. "This was her first offense."

A technician referred to her readings on a monitor and promptly reported to Hux. "General. They've been hit."  
  
"Destroyed?" grinned Hux, hopeful.

The technician again checked her readings. "Disabled. They were headed back to Jakku ...the fighter's projected to crash in the Goazon Badlands."  
  
Hux scowled. No matter. The pilot and the traitor would be dealt with soon enough. "They were going back for the droid ...send a squad to the wreckage!"

***

**Goazon Badlands, Jakku**

Finley's eyes flew open. She sat up, looking around, going from from unconscious to terrified, fast. 

She sat in the middle of a vast, epic desert, with dunes stretching for what seemed like forever. He black ejection chute blew in the dry, hot wind behind her among scattered debris.  
  
Over distant dunes, she saw rising black smoke. She got up, moving toward it, calling out "Poe! Poe!"

Finley scrambled over the massive dune to the TIE, smoking and on fire, with even more small debris around it.

She thought she saw Poe's arm, and she pulled on it, but it's just the sleeve of Poe's jacket. She threw the jacket aside and tried to find a way in -- even a way to look inside, but the smoke and heat made it impossible.

"Poe!!! POE!" Finley screamed, desperate. "POE!!!"

Suddenly the ship began to sink into the sands as if being consumed by an insatiable monster, nearly taking a bewildered Finley with it!

"POE!!! POE!!!" screamed Finley.

It became clear to Finley fast: if she didn't get away, was going to get sucked in too. Desperately, Finley scampered away from the TIE Fighter as it continues to sink into the sand, and after a few moments, it was gone.

Finley stood at the maw of the pit, horrified and out of breath. Suddenly, a giant explosion erupts from the pit, sending sand and debris everywhere. Just like the night before at the Jakku village, Finley was disoriented, scared, exhausted and defeated. 

Unlike before however, she was all alone.

But she was also _free_. Finley stripped off her armor and collected Poe's jacket, and began the long, hopeless trek through the Jakku desert.

***

**The Finalizer. Jakku Atmosphere.**

Kira Ren and General Hux walked the length of the bridge amongst the busy hub of technicians and officers, a sense of false-cordiality between the two as they discussed the search for the droid and the traitor FN-2187.

"Supreme Leader Snoke was explicit," reminded Hux with the air of a tattle-tale older brother. "Capture the droid if we can, but destroy it if we must."  
  
"How capable are your soldiers, General?" Kira deflected, ignoring his lecture.  
  
"I won't have you question my methods!" Hux snapped with vitriol. 

"They're obviously skilled at committing high treason," taunted Kira. "Perhaps Leader Snoke should consider using a clone army."  
  
"My men are exceptionally trained! Programmed from birth!"" sputtered Hux, his face turning a shade not unlike his hair.

"Then they should have no problem retrieving the droid, sneered Kira. "Unharmed."  
  
"Careful, Ren," warned Hux, an ace always up his meticulously ironed and pressed sleeves. "That your "personal interests" not interfere with orders from Leader Snoke."

Kira's eyes blazed. "I want that map. For your sake, I suggest you get it!"

Kira stormed off, leaving Hux to curse the day Leader Snoke brought the petulant, spoiled quim into the Order. 

***

**Starship Graveyard, Goazon Badlands, Jakku.**

Finley wandered around through the desert for hours, finding no water, and no civilization, Poe's jacket her only source of shade for much of the trek.

What she did eventually find, however, was a huge stretch of desert inhabited by the rusted-out, stripped down husks of Imperial Star Destroyers and machinery left over from the Battle of Jakku a quarter of a century ago.

She sat isolated and alone on the leg of a fallen AT-AT, out of the sun and out of luck. The shade may have staved off the searing heat, but not the thirst. It would buy her a few hours, but she was going to die here, still in the shadow of an Empire that she just escaped from.

Suddenly, she heard a distant electronic squeal, just over the dune ahead of her.

Instantly she stood up, thinking the heat was getting to her and making her hallucinate.

She heard another beeping squeal, and hope surged through her. She moved to follow it, but then gave it a second thought and scrambled around for a makeshift weapon in case the source of the noise wasn't friendly. She found a long metal strut peice from the AT-AT, and trudged up the dune to investigate.

She saw an orange and white ball-like droid fighting against a net, held by held by what Finley would later find out was a Teedo a small, brutish desert creature with grey mummy-like wrappings and a gasmask-like mask, riding an enormous rhinoceros-like Luggabeast, its reins attached to a large box-like headpiece. The Teedo yelled at BB-8, who again beeped madly, struggling to free himself from the net. 

Finley stood frozen for a moment, but then realized with a start that the struggling droid was Poe Dameron's droid, BB-8, the very droid Kira Ren was searching for!

"Hey!" Finley yelled, determined to get to the droid before the Order eventually did. "Hey! Hey! Leave that droid alone!"

The Teedo and BB-8 stopped and went silent, turning to Finley as she brandished her makeshift staff.

"Leave the droid alone!" Finley repeated, stabbing at the Teedo with the strut.

A half beat and the Teedo yelled something threatening back at her, blocking and deflecting her shots with the staff. 

BB-8's head swiveled to the Teedo, then back to Finley, unsure of what its next move should be.

Finley hacked at the netting with a sharp edge of her staff and the Teedo, figuring the droid was more trouble than it was worth, released it on to the sand.

The Teedo barked out a curse to the pair, and then headed off angrily on his beast.

This prompted BB-8 to start beeping provocatively at the departing Teedo.

"Yeah!" Finley yelled triumphantly as the alien bully rode away. "You better run!"

The Teedo shouted out one last curse, and then he was gone.

Finley turned to BB-8, only to find the droid righting itself, rolling up to her with a welding arm telescoping from its body to shock her!

"OW! HEY! What?!" Finley winced, backing away and keeping the droid at bay with her strut-staff.

BB-8 beeped angrily at her and gestured about, sending sparks with its welding arm.

"Its the jacket, right?" Finley asked soothingly. "It belonged to your master? Poe Dameron?"

BB-8 beeped in acknowledgement of its master's name, but it was still suspicious of her.

"He was captured by the First Order...I helped him escape but our ship crashed," Finley explained with a heavy heart. "Poe didn't make it."

BB-8 stopped fighting her and rolled off.

"Look, I tried to help him. I'm sorry..." Finley assured, walking after the depressed droid.

BB-8 beeped sadly, and Finley caught up with it, squatting down to look the droid in its ocular lens.

"Hey...we both wanna get out of here, far away from the First Order." Finley offered. "How about you and I work together, huh?"

BB-8 turned away and beeped, unsure.

Finley stood and put her hands on her hips. "We need each other right now. I'm sure you have some idea where civilization is, right? That's where you were headed before that mean creature tried to take you?"

BB-8 swiveled its head back around and regarded her for a moment.

"Here, your antenna's bent," Finley pointed out, squatting back down to fix the droid's antenna, bent in the previous scuffle with the Teedo. BB-8 beeped warningly, but let her fix it. " _We_ get to civilization, _I_ get some water, and then _we_ find a ride off this rock! Sound good?"

BB-8 beeped suspiciously, but it didn't have much of a choice. The girl did save it from the thief: it'd likely be spare parts if it wasn't for her. The least it could do is repay the favor and lead her to the nearest outpost a few miles ahead.

BB-8 decided to trust her for the time being and rolled a few feet ahead, beeping at her to follow it.

"My name is Finley, by the way. Finn for short...not that I can understand anything you beep. I'm afraid the Corps didn't put much stock in understanding droid-speak, unfortunately."

The droid turned and beeped as if to say "are you coming?" and rolled ahead some more.

"I'm coming, BB-8," Finley assured, casting aside the strut staff to jog and catch up to it. "Lead the way!"

Together, the unlikely duo made their way to Niima Outpost, their now tandem journey beginning to feel a little more hopeful than what it was when they started.


	5. Niima Outpost

**Niima Outpost, Jakku.**

From what Finley could tell, Niima was a functioning armpit of a town and nothing more, a place where no one asked questions and everyone went quietly about their own business. Being she had an astromech droid with top-secret information the First Order was looking for in tow, Finley considered herself in luck and hopeful for a drink of water and a ride out.

Sun-scorched and exhausted, Finley stumbled out of the desert past BB-8 and into the Outpost. In a heatstroked daze, she moved past enormous old ship parts, merchants, scavengers, and tented stalls, 

"Water... water... water..." Finley gasped. 

She saw a water trough where a filthy, slobbering hippo-like creature- a happabore, BB-8 noted, was drinking. Finley hurried to it, using her hands to desperately drink the filthy water.

After a couple swallows she spat it out, disgusted.

"Bwah!" Finley gagged. "Gah!"

But she's parched and immediately returned for more.

Finley looked around for somebody that could possibly help them. Ahead, she saw what looked like a makeshift exchange booth, fashioned from a old, rusted out sand crawler, surrounded by a menagerie of machine components.

Inside stood a stoutly built, humanoid lump of muscle and blubber with a thick, fleshy, hairless skull whose most prominent feature was a broad, flat nose that extended all the way up and into a bald, metal-capped head, clad with leather coveralls and heavy metal plates.

This being was Unkar Plutt, and to the people of Jakku, the most disagreeable part of surrendering salvage was taking payment, due not to the quality of the food one received as payment, but to the nature of the individual distributing it.

As Finley approached the booth, she could hear that Plutt a snippet of a heated conversation with a tall human male with long black hair and a black leather jacket.

"For the last time, _Solo_ , if you don't have the payment _in full, up front_ , then you don't get the ship!" Plutt dismissed the man and regarded the approaching Finley with a greedy and expectant stare.

The man glanced at her and slammed his fists on the counter before stalking away, allowing Finley to gingerly step up to Plutt's service counter.

"And now what could I do for you, girl?" 

"Is there a way of this planet?" Finley asked. "A ship perhaps?"

Plutt glared at her with narrowed eyes. "Payment?"

Finley flared her jacket, thinking up a lie to tell him. "I'm with the Resistance. You can arrange payment with them."

Plutt snarled. "The Resistance has no influence here, girl. Payment, in full, up front."

"I-I..." Finley stammered. She didn't have a plan for this.

Plutt regarded BB-8. "How about that droid? That would be a start..."

BB-8 beeped in what could have been fear and trepidation, looking up at Finley.

"The droid is not for sale," Finley sighed.

"Then I can't help you," Plutt sneered. He looked beyond her, his beady eyes shifting to BB-8 for a second. "NEXT!"

"Let's go, BB-8," Finley said sadly.

As Finley walked away, dejected, Plutt discretely motioned to a few nearby alien toughs to stop her--and more specifically, BB-8--from leaving.

Finley turned from her squatting position at BB-8's body to find herself staring up at a trio of nasty, tough-looking brutes, crackling their knuckles, sniggering intimidatingly.

One clearly told her that they're taking the droid, and attacked.

BB-8 reacted nervously as Finley resisted them, and outright squealed in distress as one thug pulled a sack over BB-8 while another grabbed Finley's arm. In the tussle, she knocked over metal urns for sale, causing a crashing noise to echo throughout the Outpost.

Finley fought back, putting to use her First Order stormtrooper training. With a flurry of furious kicks and punches, she fended off her attackers, who hit the sand, hard.

A fourth snuck up behind her, about to attack, but a hand appeared at his shoulder, swiftly spinning him around.

A fist collided with the thug's face with a sickening crunch, knocking him out instantly.

Finley spun around. It was "Solo", the man from before, flexing and shaking the impact from his hand.

The man grinned at her, his smile reaching up to ears that peeked out from under his well-kept hair, a bit too big for his unconventionally handsome face.

"I heard the commotion...but I see you took care of it," Solo gestured to the groaning thugs who stumbled and shulked away. "Nice job."

His voice was like deep velvet, and his eyes were incredibly intense...but warm. Perhaps he could help...

"Thanks..." Finley replied, doubled over, catching her breath. She gestured to the thug Solo just knocked out. "You too..."

"There's nothing I hate more than a bully," Solo warned, shooting an increasingly angry Plutt a look. "And Unkar Plutt is the biggest, ugliest, and nastiest one in these parts."

Plutt roared obscenities at the mysterious man, but Solo ignored him and strode over to the covered BB-8 and pulled the sack off of it.

"There you go, buddy," he said. He turned to Finley. "A droid like this is a dangerous thing to have in a place like Niima. I suggest you make your way out of here, and fast before Plutt sends more of his thugs after you and your little friend."

BB-8 beeped appreciatively to Solo, and rolled away a few feet to the edge of a nearby tent to look around for any more potential danger.

Finley was just about to reply to Solo about her situation, but just then, BB-8 beeped madly at something it sees.   
  
"What is it?" Solo asked.

Finley hurried over to where BB-8 was and peeked around a tent corner, gasping at what she saw. Solo scoffed and followed her, his brow furrowing from confusion to surprise.

In the distance, the thugs that Finley and Solo dispatched were talking animatedly to a pair of armed First Order stormtroopers, pointing in their direction.

"Shit!" Solo exclaimed, grabbing Finley's hand, heading for the tents. "Last thing I need...!"

"I see them!" Finley snapped trying to jerk her hand away from Solo's grip. "Hey! Let go of my hand!"

"Come on!" Solo urged.

Suddenly, laser blasts ripped past them, hitting a nearby cleaning unit, spewing steam, causing Finley to scream when another blast nearly hit her.

Solo and Finley raced through, dodging blasts, zigzagging through a maze of tents.

"Let go of me!" snapped Finley.

"No, we gotta move!" Solo yelled back.  
  
"I know how to run without you holding my hand!" Finley yelled indignantly, pulling her hand away.

"Fine, lady! Just stay close!" Solo pointed. "This way!"

Finley and BB-8 continued to follow the mysterious man, another blast just missing them. They disappeared through a tent, losing the wolvish stormtroopers through the tent maze.

"Call in the air strike!" shouted a frustrated stormtrooper.

Finley, BB-8, and Solo ducked into another tent, taking cover in the hanging rusty wares.

"I don't think they're shooting at us just because we roughed up a few thugs," Solo hissed quietly at Finley.

"Yeah, well...they're after me," Finley admitted. "Now that they saw you with me, you're marked!"  
  
"Well, gee," snarked Solo. "Thanks for that!"  
  
"Nobody told you to play a hero and get involved!" Finley snapped.  
  
Solo quieted her with a gesture, sensing something before she did. His eyes widened.

Solo grabbed her hand again, pulling her away.

"Stop taking my hand!" yelled Finley, but as she began to hear the approaching TIEs, she complied nonetheless, racing with BB-8 at their heels as a pair of stormtroopers scream into view from behind the tents.

The TIEs fired at them, and a massive blast sent the pair flying and the droid rolling, the explosion sending sand and debris over fifty feet into air.  
  
Finley was thrown hard to the ground, rattled and afraid.

She then turned and saw Solo lying nearby, unconscious. 

She scrambled over to him and rolled him over. He was deceptively heavy, like rolling over a fallen log. BB-8 rolled over to them, beeping in concern.  
  
"Hey!" Finley yelled. She had just met the man, but she certainly didn't want him to die because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Thankfully, Solo came to.

"Are you okay?" he said wearily.

And that very question touched her -- Finley couldn't remember ever being asked that question. If you got hurt in the Order, you either got up and walked it off or you died where you lay, plain and simple.  
  
"Yeah," Finley extended her hand.  
  
Solo grinned and took it and together they sprinted towards the Niima spaceport as the TIE fighters divebombed them. 

Finley glanced back as a pair of TIEs banked around.  
  
"We can't outrun them!" Finley huffed, her lungs aching in pain.

Solo pointed to a beat up old YT Corellian Freighter half-covered in a tarp. "There's the ship I came to this dustball for! The _Millennium Falcon_!""  
  
"That ship?" Finley asked incredulously. "That ship is garbage!"

She pointed to a four engine quadjumper ahead of them. "What about that ship?"

Solo began to respond as Finley charged toward the quadjumper, but the passing TIE fighters fire at it, blowing it apart in a huge ball of flame and debris.

Finley came to a quick stop, before turning and following Solo and BB-8 toward the Falcon.

"The garbage'll do!" Finley yelped.  
  
The TIE fighters banked around again just as the trio run up the ramp of the semi-tarped Falcon.  
  
The three entered the ship and Solo hit a ontrol button and the door descended close as they race to the cockpit.  
  
"Gunner position's down there!" pointed Solo as he settled at the bridge.  
  
"You flew in here with this peice of junk?" Finley asked as she looked around.

Solo jumped into the pilot's seat, frantically flipping switches. BB-8 rolls in behind him as the engines whine to life.  
  
"No! This ship hasn't been flown in years!" Solo replied.  
  
Finley buckled into the gunner seat. To her shock the seat whipped to the left, startling her. She then grabbed the controls to steady herself.

"What?" snapped Finley as her equilibrium returned. "I thought you said this was your ship!"

" _Was_ being the operative word," Solo revealed, pulling on the yoke.

The _Falcon_ 's engines lit up bright, rising wildly as its tarps fly off, spinning and tilting, slamming into and crumbling the town's archway.  
  
"HEY!!!! THAT'S MIIIIIIINE!!!" roared a dismayed Unkar Plutt, running out of the blaster-damaged tents as the _Falcon_ blasted away with the two TIEs chasing close behind it. 

Solo's first instinct was to head for the sky, but experience told him to stay low to confuse the TIEs' tracking.   
  
"Alright folks! Hold on to your asses!" Solo called. "I'm going low!  
  
The _Falcon_ dramatically banked at an upward, upside-down arc, swooping perilously low across the sand in an effort to avoid the screaming TIE Fighters. 

In the cylindrical corridor, BB-8 rolled to the ceiling, and Solo looked back for a flash as the TIE Fighters passed, rocking the _Falcon_ with a blast.

"What are you doing back there?" Solo called back to Finley in irritation. "Are you ever gonna fire back?!"

"I'm working on it!" screamed Finley, flicking the gun operating switches. "Are the shields up?"

"Fuck!" Solo cursed, reaching for something in the co-pilot seat. "Not so easy without a co-pilot! Where's Chewie when you need him?!" 

"Try sitting in this thing!" Finley replied, struggling with the gun controls and the sweeping chair.

"I have!" Solo called back.

Finley scoffed and finally fired back at the two TIE Fighters, but her shots miss them, and they arc back in pursuit, firing towards the _Falcon_.  
  
"We need cover, quick!" Finley squealed as the Falcon was rocked by another blast.   
  
"We're about to get some!" assured Solo as he hit a series of switches. "I hope."  
  
The _Falcon_ sped through a rock formation, grazing and taking a chunk out of the rock the with the two TIE Fighters in close pursuit, constantly firing at them.

The _Falcon_ banked so hard to avoid them that the edge of the ship ripped a line in the sand as it turned, revealing the Starship Graveyard ahead.

Solo prayed to himself that the _Falcon_ didn't join the graveyard just as BB-8 extended a magnetic cable to brace itself in a corridor, perhaps sharing his trepidation.

"Damn it!" growled Finley in frustration as she continued to fire at the TIE Fighters, narrowly missing them.

Solo maneuvered the ship deeper into the graveyard, and Finley lined up another shot at an incoming TIE.  
  
"Come on... come on..." and she fired, hitting and shattering the TIE fighter.  
  
"Nice shot!" congratulated Solo.  
  
"I'm getting pretty good at this!" Finley laughed.  
  
The TIE fighter crashed amid the debris and a trio of scavengers appeared like vultures to consume the new bounty.

The _Falcon_ wasn't out trouble yet, and was pursued by the one remaining TIE. The old freighter slalomed through the massive wreckage, grazing the old ships as goes, pieces flying.

The TIE fired in the cavern-like space, hitting the _Falcon's_ lower turret, spinning and jamming into forward position.  
  
"The cannon's stuck in forward position, I can't move it!" Finley cried over the blaring alarms. "You gotta lose 'em!"  
  
Solo's mind raced as the ship got hit again. Scanning the area, he got an idea. "Get ready!" 

"Okay!" Finley replied. "For what?!"  
  
Solo piloted the ship up and into the rear of a crashed Star Destroyer, the final TIE right behind them.

"ARE WE REALLY DOING THIS?!" panicked Finley as she peered out the window.  
  
The two ships slalomed through the debris inside the giant ship -- the _Falcon_ grazing one side, then the other, spitting sparks.

"Oh no!" Finley was terrified as she saw that they were quickly running out of space in the wreck, but Solo just ignored her, deep in concentration.  
  
Just as the TIE pilot got a lock, Solo yanked the yoke, driving the _Falcon_ into a hard right turn out of the Destroyer. Solo then cut the power, flipping the ship so that the back faced front.

Finley could now see the pursuing TIE Fighter, and she fired, finally destroying it.

Solo gunned the engines again, flipping the _Falcon_ and flying away just as the TIE crashed into the Starship Graveyard, joining its twin as salvage for the scavengers.   
  
"Whooo!" cheered Finley as the _Falcon_ roared off, victoriously leaving leaving the ship graveyard, and Jakku, behind as she disappeared into the clouds and into space.


	6. Trouble on the Millennium Falcon

**_Millennium Falcon_ , Deep Space **

Once they were safely speeding away from the Jakku orbit, Solo excitedly unbuckled his seatbelt and hurried back to meet Finley, racing past BB-8, who was retracting its safety restraint.  
  
Finley, adrenalized, climbed from the turret and met Solo in the lounge of the _Falcon._

"So, what's your name, sweetheart?" Solo asked Finley. "And why was the First Order after you?"

Finley ignored the pet name. "My name is Finley. Finn if you like."

"I like," Solo grinned, moving closer to her.

"I'm with the Resistance," Finley continued, almost like a warning. She didn't like the way he was staring at her.

BB-8 beeped at her questioningly. Solo cocked an eyebrow. He read her with his intense eyes, almost as if he was peering into her soul...

"Sure you are," Solo finally said, stepping even _closer_ to her.

Finley sidestepped him before he could get any closer. "Okay...well...what's your name? Or do I just call you 'Solo'?"

Solo leaned his arm against the wall where she just stood. "You can call me whatever you want."

Finley tilted her head. The man was persistent. "How about 'Creepy'?"

Solo blinked, and then laughed, stepping back from her. "Okay! Okay! I get it! I'll stop, alright?"

"Your name?" Finley pressed, raising her eyebrows.

"My name is Ben. Ben Solo."

BB-8 rolled up and beeped at them.

"Nice to meet you, too, BB-8," Ben Solo smiled.

Finley's eyes went wide. "You understand droid-speak?"

Ben looked from BB-8 to Finley, putting the pieces together. "This droid is why the Order was after you, isn't it?"

Before Finley could say anything, steam burst from under the grating across the lounge.   
  
"Shit!" yelped Ben in alarm. "Help me with this! Quick!"

They hurried to the grating, pulling it up together. BB-8 rolled over and watched.  
  
"Whoa! What's going on?" Finley cried as Ben went below.

***

**The _Finalizer_ , Jakku Atmosphere **

Kira Ren stood alone in her chambers, staring out into the star field from her vast transparisteel window. She could sense a disturbance in the Force, and called for Lieutenant Mitaka to give her a report on the situation regarding the droid and the missing defector.

There was a beep outside her door, interrupting her thoughts.

"Enter," ordered Kira.

Lieutenant Mitaka nervously shuffled in, uneasy with his task.

"Report," Kira said without looking at him.

"M'lady. We were unable to acquire the droid on Jakku," Mitaka nervously reported.

Kira turned to look at him, saying nothing.  
  
"It escaped capture aboard a stolen Corellian YT model freighter," Mitaka continued.  
  
"The droid... stole a freighter?" Kira asked impatiently, rolling her eyes.

Mitaka swallowed. "Not exactly, M'lady. It had help."

Ren said nothing. Which said everything. Mitaka began to sweat.  
  
"We have no confirmation, but we believe FN-2187 may have been helped in the escape--"

Kira's fists clenched and Mitaka felt a frog in his throat. He dreaded what would be coming next. 

"Anything else?" Kira hissed.  
  
"The t-two were accompanied by a m-man...named S-Solo..." Mitaka stuttered.

The name struck a chord and Kira's eyes widened in surprise, and then rage.

She reached out and Mitaka was suddenly, violently forced to his knees, clutching at his throat, struggling to breathe.  
  
" _SOLO?!_ " 

***

**_Millennium Falcon_ , Deep Space.**

Ben's head popped up from under the grating, surrounded by steam as the emergency alarm blared throughout the old freighter.  
  
"It's the motivator!" Ben announced, pointing from Finley to a nearby storage box. "Grab me a Harris wrench -- check in there!"

As Finley checked the storage box, Ben disappeared down below, overwhelmed by the technical issues.  
  
"How bad is it?!" Finley asked, concerned."

"Well...If we wanna live, not good!" Ben replied.

BB-8 watched as Finley searched for the wrench among the selection of tools.

"They're hunting for us now, we gotta get outta this system!" Finley warned when she finally found the wrench.

"BB-8 said the location of the Resistance Base is "need to know" --if I'm taking you there, I need to  
know!" Ben said as he popped out of the grating.

"This?" Finley asked, throwing Ben a tool.

Ben caught it and went under again, leaving Finley and BB-8 alone. She contemplated telling him the truth. This was her moment to. But instead she kneed to BB-8, saying quietly, urgently: "You gotta tell us where the base is."

BB-8 beeped at her.

"Look...you know I'm not with the Resistance..." Finley pleaded. "I'm just trying to get away from the First Order -- but you tell us where your base is, I'll--"

BB-8 beeped again and tilted its head at her.

"BB-8, please," begged Finley.

"Pilex driver, hurry!" demanded Ben, popping up again.

Finn moved for the tool, a thousand scenarios racing through her head. She could feel Ben staring a hole through her.  
  
"So where's your base?" Ben frowned.

"Go on BB-8, tell him!" Finely urged. Then a little quieter: "Please!"

He and Finley looked to BB-8 -- who considerd the whole situation, then beeped.

"The Ileenium system?" Ben repeated. He scrutinized her with his intense eyes.

"Yeah, the Ileenium system, that's the one -- get us there as fast as you can," mumbled Finley, unconvincingly.

An amused expression crossed Ben's face. He nodded. "Okay. I got it."

Finley handes him the tool, surprised but thrilled as Ben disappeared below again. 

A smiling Finley gave BB-8 a thumbs-up. BB-8 quickly extended its welding torch and turned it upward before retracting it, reciprocating the gesture.

"I can drop you two as far as Ponemah Terminal," Ben promised. "But right now I need the bonding tape. Hurry!"

"What about you?" Finley asked as she searched for the bonding tape.

Just then, all the power on the ship went out. BB-8 beeped nervously.

"... That can't be good," squeaked Finley.

Ben headed up and out of the grating. "No it can't be.."

Finley followed Ben into the Falcon's cockpit. They plopped into the seats, in a panic. Ben checked the dead instrumentation panel.

"Someone's locked onto us -- all controls are overridden," Ben growled.

Finley quickly, awkwardly climbed up and looked out.

"See anything?" Ben blushed as she climbed over him, her butt inches from his face. Maybe he could give her a little boost...  
  
"Oh no!" she exclaimed.

A massive freighter appeared from above, the Falcon powerless, a sitting duck.

Its giant hangar opened, swallowing the Falcon like the huge mouth of a whale.

"It's the First Order," Finley announced, ashen-faced as she plopped into her seat.

"Shit!" cursed Ben.

"What do we do?...there must be something --" Finley's mind raced. "You said poisonous gas --"  
  
"Yeah, but I fixed that..." Ben replied, giving her a weird look.  
  
"Can you unfix it?" Finley asked.

Ben stares at her for a moment, and then quickly got her plan. They headed off, grabbing the gas masks hanging in the lounge and then quickly climb into the open grating area.   
  
"C'mon BB-8" Finley encouraged, helping the droid down with the help of Ben.  
  
Finley pulled the grating over them as Ben worked on the controls.   
  
"You sure this'll work on the stormtroopers?" Ben asked. "Imperial stormtroopers had filters."  
  
"Yeah," assured Finley. "First Order troopers have masks that only filter out smoke, not toxins."

The lights came on and the sound of the ship ramp lowering reverberated throughout the illuminated interior.

"Hurry!" urged Finley, pulling the grating over them.

"I'm hurrying!" Ben snapped as the _Falcon_ door opened.

He drew his blaster, which recieved an accusatory look from Finley.

"Didn't want to get mixed up with the First Order," Ben whispered. "No choice now."

It wasn't the First Order, however.

An older man and a tall, shaggy Wookiee stalked the _Falcon_ , weapons ready for combat, operating silently with hand signals only.

"Chewie, we're home," the grizzled old man said affectionately.

The man gave the Wookiee 'Chewie' a nod to check out the ship. Chewie headed off one way, the man in another.

"DAD?!" Ben roared from under the grating. 

"DAD?! repeated Finley, confused.

The man trained his blaster on the grating. "Come out where I can see you!" 

Ben lifted the grating open, his blaster still pointed at his father.

"Ben! It was you!" the man exclaimed, a wide smile appearing on his weathered face. "About damn time you got the _Falcon_ back for us!"

Finley peaked her head out of the grating.

The man lowered his blaster and let out a loud, barking laugh. "I see you brought a friend! Am I interrupting something?"

"You son of a bitch!" Ben hissed. "Was scaring the shit out of us really necessary?"

The man laughed. "You can never be too sure, right Chewie?"

The Wookiee laughed in agreement.

Ben stepped out of the grating and holstered his blaster. "Laugh it up, fuzzball."

"You can understand that thing?" Finley asked.

"That _Wookiee_ can understand _you_ ," Ben warned. "So watch what you say around him."

Finley gingerly stepped out, stepping back and nearly falling into the grate as Chewie snarled at her.

"So, who's the young lady?" the man asked as Chewie laughed his guttural laugh at Finley's expense.

"Dad, this is my _friend_ Finley," Ben introduced. "Finley, this is my father Han and my uncle Chewbacca."

"Han Solo...sounds familiar," Finley said. "Weren't you a war hero?"

"Something like that," Han replied.

"Ran the Kessel Run in fourteen parsecs!" Ben added proudly.

"Twelve!" Han corrected indignantly. "Hmmph! _Fourteen_!"

Han shook his head and took a look around the Falcon. "Took a while to track the _Falcon_ to Plutt. First it was Ducain--"

"Then the Irving Boys," Ben added with a roll of the eyes.

"Then Plutt himself!" Han barked, clapping Ben on his broad shoulder. "Well, the Solos just stole back the _Millennium Falcon_ for good!"

Chewie roared a celebratory call, and then a moment later something _roared back_ in the distance, followed by a metallic KA-CHUNK!

"Don't tell me a Rathtar's gotten loose-- " sighed Han, hurrying out of the Falcon and into the into the giant freighter's hangar.

The others followed close behind, and Ben chased his father down the ramp.

"Wait -- what?!" Ben exclaimed. "Did you just say the Rathtars got loose?! Hey! "

Han moved to a control panel. There were images on the screens from all around the ship, including the exterior, where a transport ship was landing on the frieghter.

"So not only do we have Rathtars loose but we also have unwanted company?" Ben accused.

A fearful look crossed Han's grizzled face. "It's the Guavian Death Gang. They must tracked us all the way from Nantoon. "

"Oh fuck," muttered Ben.

Han stuck a finger in his face. "I told you to hurry with the _Falcon_! We could have dropped off the Rathtars and ditched this rig and made off Scot free, but--"

"There was a delay," Ben snapped. "A _First Order_ delay."

"Oh fuck!" Han cried.

Finley stepped up. "Rathtars? Death Gangs? Who are you people?!"

Ben turned to her and grinned. "We're smugglers."


	7. Wrath of the Rathtars

**The _Eravana_ , Deep Space **

Ben, Finley, Han, Chewie, and BB-8 hurried down a corridor lined with various containers.

"What the hell are you guys doing with Rathtars?!" Finley demanded nervously. "They're so big and--"

"We had three of 'em going to King Prana," Ben replied matter-of-factly.  
  
"THREE?!" screeched Finley. "How'd you get them on board?   
  
Han turned. "We used to have a bigger crew."

Chewie groan-talked, concurring. 

The five stopped at a hatch in the floor. Chewie opened it up, and Han gestured to it.  
  
"Alright, son. You three get below deck and stay there until I sort out this mess," Han ordered. "If it goes south...get yourself outta here."  
  
"Dad...," Ben protested.

"Go!" Han snapped. He waved his hand in front of his face in an arc. "Unless _you_ want to talk to them..."

Ben gritted his teeth. "We talked about _that_!"

"Then get your girlfriend and your droid outta here! Now!" 

"What about the Rathtars... where are you keeping them?" Finley asked nervously, eyeing the open hatch nervously.

BAM! A gigantic, grotesque Rathtar tongue slammed into the cargo container window behind her. Her dark skin paled, and she scampered into the hatch.  
  
"There's one," Han deadpanned.  
  
"What are you gonna do?" Ben asked.  
  
"Same thing I always do: talk my way out of it," Han grinned. "Now get outta here!

A group of heavy footsteps approached. Ben scowled, but jumped into the hatch. Finley and him reached up to receive BB-8 from Chewbacca, but it was too late. The heard the hiss of the portal opening, and Han was forced to quickly close the portal with BB-8 in tow.

" _Shit!"_ Ben hissed.

BB-8 tried to hide behind Chewbacca's massive shaggy bulk as the portal opened and the red and black clad Guavian Death Gang entered, striking with their black bullseye adorned crimson helmets

The gang turned into and stopped at one end of the corridor with Han, Chewie and BB-8 forty feet away in the middle of the long hall.

"Welcome to the _Eravana_ , boys," Han greeted. "What can we do for you?"  
  
"Han Solo," the barefaced, scowling gang leader stepped forward, set apart from the others with his black suit. "You are a dead man."

Han smiled innocently. BB-8 nervously looked back and forth at the gang and Han.

"Bala-Tik," Han said casually. "What's the problem?"  
  
Bala-Tik scowled. "The problem is we loaned you fifty  
thousand for this job."

Below, Finley and Ben looked up, trying to get a view.

"Can you see them?" Finley asked.  
  
Ben squinted. "Barely."

He gestured over to the space under where the gang was standing. Finley nodded and they start crawling down the crawl space. Ben was cramped with his tall body, and scowled as he crawled.  
  
"I heard you also borrowed fifty thousand from Kanjiklub," Bala-Tik accused.  
  
"You know you can't trust those little freaks!" Han replied indignantly. "How long've we known each other?"

Ben and Finley arrived under the gang.  
  
"They have blasters..." Finley pointed out as they arrived under the gang.  
  
"A lot of 'em," Ben concurred, slowly drawing his own blaster.  
  
"The question is how much longer will we know each other?" Bala-Tik continued from above them in his confrontation with Han. "Not long. We want our money back now."

"Ya think hunting Rathtars is cheap?" Han argued. "I spent that money."  
  
"Kanjiklub wants their investment back, too," said Bala-Tik.  
  
"I never made a deal with Kanjiklub!" Han snapped.  
  
"Tell that to Kanjiklub," countered Bala-Tik.

Another sound of a portal opening. Han's face goes a pale white as he turned to the other end of the corridor, where the grey-tuniced Kanjiklub gang appeared. 

"Tasu Leech," greeted Han with an uncomfortable smile as the Kanjiklub leader stepped forward, a tan-skinned human man with half-moon shaped eyes. "Good to see you."

"Wrong again, Solo," Tasu replied in an alien language. "It's over for you."

Tasu cocked his weapon, there for blood. 

Underneath, Finley and Ben reacted to the sounds of the new gang and started crawling back the other way to see them.  
  
"Boys. You're both gonna get what I promised!" Han sweet-talked, trying to salvage the situation. "Have I ever not delivered for you before?"  
  
"Yeah," Bala-Tik quickly replied.  
  
"Twice!" added Tasu, holding up a pair of angrily shaking fingers.

"What was the second time?" Han asked, not even trying to argue.  
  
"Your game is old," hisses Bala-Tik. "There's no one in the galaxy left for you to swindle."  
  
"Nowhere left for you to hide," added Tasu Leech.

As Chewbacca shifted with his bowcaster in hand, Bala-Tik saw a glimpse of BB-8 behind him.

"That BB unit... the First Order is looking for one just like it. And two fugitives."

Finley and Ben stopped crawling, tense.   
  
"First I've heard of it," Han replied coolly.

Below the grating, Finley and Ben look at each other, hearts racing.

"Come to think of it, one of the fugitive's names is Solo...," Tasu said with a sickening grin. "That wouldn't be your boy, would it?"

Han's hands twitched towards his blaster.

"Razoo Qin-Fee," Tasu said to his second-in-command.

"Search the freighter," Qin-Fee ordered, and one of   
the Kanjiklubbers began moving down the corridor, aiming a flashlight down below, searching for Ben and Finley.

Below, Ben crawls fast in the opposite direction from where they came with Finley following.

They quickly arrived at a junction box area and Ben studied the controls, thinking swiftly.

"I got an idea," Ben said. "If we close the blast doors in that corridor, we can trap both gangs!  
  
"Close the blast doors from here?" Finley asked.  
  
"Resetting the fuses should do it," Ben explained as he started, sparks shooting from the boxes as he does. Finley quickly joined in, and soon they were finished.

They heard a mechanical roar, followed by a bestial roar.

Farther down from Han and the gangs, an empty row of large containers along a corridor open, and an enormous, fierce, and ravenous octopus-like creature, a Rathtar, slithered out of its cage!

Where Han and the gangs stood, banks of lights began going off, one by one.

As the gangs look around, Han's eyes went wide. "... I got a bad feeling about this..."

Suddenly all the lights come on again, even down below, where Ben realized it hasn't gone as planned.

"Oh no," Ben lamented.  
  
"Oh no, what?" Finley squeaked, afraid of the answer.

Ben was pale. "Wrong fuses."

"Kill them! And take the droid!" Bala-Tik ordered as both gangs aim their weapons.

As they did so, a giant Rathtar appeared behind the Guavian Death Gang, grabbing a pair of members with its massive tentacles.

Blasts fly as the gangs fire at the monster, and some gang members lose their nerve screaming and running.

Han and Chewie flinched, turning to Kanjiklub as  
a Rathtar appeared behind the gang, roaring deafeningly as the gang turns their attention to it, fighting and fleeing like the Death Gang.

Han, Chewie and BB-8 take the opportunity to race race down the hall. A member of the Kanjiklub gang came around the corner, and Han punched him out  
with one blow, throwing him toward the Rathtar. The three waste little time with their minor victory, and keep running.

Meanwhile, two Guavian Death Gang members ran through the ship -- passing Tasu Leech, who saw another Kanjiklub member down the corridor get grabbed by a tentacle. Before Tasu could help him, he got pulled up and away. Terrified, Tasu heard a distant roar of another Rathtar, and ran the other way. 

Other Kanjiklub members yelled at him to avoid that direction as they all turn a corner, but a Rathtar was there and grabbed the two others as Tasu fired at the beast and ran off.

***

"Well, that was a bad idea," Ben said as he helped Finley climb out of the floor hatch and into a corridor.

"Huge!" Finley cried, horrified as they turn a corner and find the remaining gang members battling a vicious Rathtar.

She covered her mouth and Ben yanked her away, racing around another corner, coming feet away from another Rathtar.

"Come on this way!" cried Ben, tugging on her arm.

"Are you sure?" Finley asked, her dark face drained of color.

Before Ben could respond and pull her in the direction he was headed, Finley was suddenly grabbed and pulled away by the Rathtar!

"FINLEY!!!" roared Ben as the Rathtar turned the corner with a screaming Finley.  
  
Ben dashed around the corner, but Finley was gone, nowhere to be seen.  
  
"FINLEY!!!!" Ben roared again, distraught. "FUCK!!!!"

Ben shook with rage, but he then realized that he had passed a control panel.

He focused on a bank of video monitors of the ship, catching Finley being dragged by a Rathtar towards an open blast door.

Ben's hand rested on a control button as he waited, taking a deep breath before slamming the button with his large hand.

Through the video feed, Ben saw the blast door close on one of the Rathtar's tentacles. The beast screamed in pain, its severed tentacle still wrapped around the terrified Finley's leg.

She scrambled up, desperately shaking the sticky tentacle off her leg!

Ben rushed to intercept her, running through the corridor to help her with the tentacle.

"Ben!" Finley yelled as Ben knelt down to wrestle the wriggling tentacle off. "Ben! It had me! But the door--!"

"That was lucky!" Ben interjected, tossing aside the tentacle and heaving Finley to her feet. "Now let's get the hell outta here!"

***

Han, Chewie and BB-8 took cover in the corridor on the way to the hangar as Han exchanged blaster fire with the remaining gang members at the other end of the hall as Ben and Finley emerged from an adjacent corridor.

Han glanced as Finley took cover behind Ben as his son helped return fire at the gangs.

"I got the door," Han said to Chewie. "Cover us!"

Chewie groan-agreed and whipped his bowcaster around to fire down the corridor.

Han crossed the corridor to the door controls with BB-8 at his heels.

He pushed a few buttons to open the door, but had to duck an errant blast.

Chewie groaned as he was hit in the shoulder by enemy fire, and went down with a loud groan.  
  
"Chewie! You okay?" Ben asked as he took Chewie's place in covering his father.

Impatient and harried, Han grabbed Chewie's bowcaster and fired at the door controls.  
  
"Come on!" Han urged as the hangar door whooshed open. "Come on!"

Han tossed the bowcaster to Finley as he helped a wounded Chewbacca to the _Falcon_.

Ben opens the ramp as the others race up the ramp, covering them as the ramp closes.  
  
"You take care of Chewie!" Han ordered Finley.

She nodded and Han turned to Ben. "You. Co-pilot!"

Han and Ben raced to the bridge as Finley guided a pained Chewie to the lounge where he collapsed.

Han stood at the navicomputer, hitting switches as Ben moved past him to Chewie's seat.

"What the hell is taking so long for this bird to take off?!" Han yelled in frustration.

"That moof-milker Unkar Plutt installed a fuel pump and a compressor...so if we don't prime that we're  
not going anywhere," Ben replied, hitting buttons.

"I hate that guy," Han grumbled.  
  
"You didn't have to haggle with him," Ben agreed.

"I have," Han countered. "That's why I sent _you_!"

Chewie roared in pain just as Ben primed the controls.

"Watch the thrust, we're goin' out of here at lightspeed," Han advised.

"Really, Dad?!" Ben cried. From inside the hangar?"

"You got a better idea?" Han shot back.

Before Ben could respond, a Rathtar jumped on the windshield of the _Falcon_ , its giant mouth chewing at the transparisteel!

"This is not how I thought this day was gonna go!" Han grumbled, working the controls. "Ben, angle the shields! Everyone else, hang on back there!"

In the lounge, Chewie roared in pain as Finley went through a first aid kit just as the ship was hit again.  
  
"No problem!" Finley deadpanned in response to Han.

Three gang members raced down the hangar out and fired at the _Falcon_ , hitting the ship's fuel lines.

"Come on baby, don't let me down!" Han cried, hitting a switch, but nothing happened. "What?!"

Ben reached over and hit another switch, matter-of-factly. "Compressor."

Han scowled and hit the switch again. The hyperdrive fired, and the hangar became filled with the afterburners as the attacking gang members were blasted back like dry leaves.

The ravenous Rathtar ripped away from the _Falcon_ 's windshield as the _Falcon_ disappeared in a streak, leaving the _Eravana_ behind .

***

Inside the hangar of the _Eravana_ , Guavian Death Gang leader Bala-Tik arrived at the window as the _Millennium Falcon_ streaked away, absolutely seething.  
  
"Inform the First Order that Han Solo has the droid and the fugitives they want," he announced in a communication device. "And they're aboard the _Millennium Falcon_."


	8. The Map

**Starkiller Base, Illum.**

A pair of TIE fighters roared towards a magnificent planet, frozen white. Once Illum, a natural planet that the Jedi Order would make pilgrimages to search for the kyber crystals that fueled their lightsabers, it had been hacked and modified into something sinister, the First Order's Starkiller Base. 

Kira Ren and General Hux stood together in the cavernous assembly room deep within the base, looking upward at someone addressing them.

Hundreds of desks surrounded them in a stadium arc, focused on a platform where an enormous hologram of Supreme Leader Snoke stood. Not entirely human, pale, old, and wounded, yet immensely powerful, all at the same time.

"The droid will soon be delivered to the Resistance, leading them to the last Jedi," Snoke warned, his voice deep, almost soothing and full of control. "If Skywalker returns, the new Jedi will rise."  
  
"Supreme Leader, I take full responsibility for th--" Hux began.

"General!" Snoke warned, a terrifying edge lacing his steady voice. "Our strategy must now change!   
  
"The weapon. It is ready. I believe the time has come to use it. We shall destroy the government that  
supports the Resistance, the Republic," Hux explained, desperation heightening with every word. "Without their friends to protect them, the Resistance will be vulnerable, and we will stop them before they reach Skywalker!"

"Go," Snoke said after a few moments of consideration. "Oversee preparations."  
  
"Yes, Supreme Leader," Hux replied proudly, swiftly exiting the chamber.

Kira watched him go with a glare as the massive Snoke sat.  
  
"There's been an awakening. Have you felt it?" Snoke asked with a new intimacy in his voice.  
  
"Yes," replied Kira.  
  
"There's something more," Snoke continued. "The droid we seek is aboard the _Millennium Falcon_. In the hands of Han Solo...and his son."  
  
Snoke watched her closely as Kira reacted with a subtle, but real, surprise.

"Ben Solo means nothing to me," Kira finally replied.  
  
"Even you, Mistress of the Knights of Ren, have never faced such a test," Snoke intoned. "You _knew_ him."

"By the grace of your training, I will not be seduced," Kira replied with a bow and a steely resolve.  
  
"We shall see," Snoke said with a satisfied nod. "We shall see."

Kira turned on her heels, abruptly exiting, her mind racing with conflict.

Snoke watched her disappear, a grotesque evil smile growing on his decrepit face as his hologram disintegrated.

***  
 ** _Millennium Falcon_ , Hyperspace**

In just an afternoon, The _Millennium Falcon_ had outmaneuvered TIE Fighters on Jakku and fled a raid of pirates, and now the _Falcon's_ luck had caught up with her as chaos erupted throughout the ship with alarms blaring, and her passengers desperate to fix the mounting problems.

"Electrical overload!" Han yelled as sparks erupted from inside the cockpit.  
  
"I can fix that!" Ben replied.  
  
"The coolant's leaking!" Han added.

"Try transferring auxiliary power to the secondary tank--" Ben advised.  
  
"-- Secondary tank, I got it!" Han called back.

In the lounge, Chewie howled in pain as Finley tried to quickly wrap a bandage on Chewie's shoulder.

"Chewie, come on! I need help with this giant hairy thing! Stop moving!" Finley cried in frustration.

BB-8 rolled up to help, but Chewbacca roared at it, and the droid scurried off.

"You hurt Chewie, you're gonna deal with me!" yelled Han from the cockpit.

"Hurt him?! He almost killed me six times!" Finley snapped back as she struggled to bandage the uncooperative Wookiee.

Chewie grabbed her by the collar and roared.

Fear crossed Finley's face, but then she roared back.

"LISTEN! I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU! STOP YOUR DAMN STRUGGLING AND LET ME BANDAGE YOUR SHOULDER!!!"

Finley waited for the repercussions of her loss of temper. To her and everyone's surprise, however, Chewie simply scoffed and offered her his shoulder.

Ben looked back at them and then to his father.

"Well," Ben quipped. "That's one way to do it."  
  
"Well, we don't got time for that!" Han snapped. "This hyperdrive blows there's gonna be pieces of us in three different systems!"

"Got it!" Ben replied, ducking quick under the console.

The alarms suddenly stopped, and Ben sat up in the co-pilot seat with a satisfied smirk on his face.  
  
"What'd you do?" asked Han, confused.  
  
"I by-passed the compressor!" laughed Ben, holding up the device.

Han looked at him for a moment and then chuckled appreciatively. He stood up from the pilot's seat as Ben put in a few last minute adjustments on the console

"Move, Ball," Han said to BB-8 as he hurried over to a recovering Chewbacca, who was awake but recovering, his breath even and steady.  
  
Han knelt to Chewie's side and checked his friend's wound with care.   
  
"Nah, don't say that, you did great," Han assured as Chewie moan-talked to him lamentedly. "Just rest."

Han turned to Finley, who sat at the dejarik set with BB-8 beside her.

"Good job, kid. And thanks," Han nodded. "Not many folks could talk like that to Chewie and stay in one piece."  
  
"Umm...Thanks?" Finley replied awkwardly. "I mean, You're welcome."

Finley then accidentally hit a button on the dejarik set, and the holographic figures appeared, looking up at her curiously. The pieces started to fight as she fiddled with the controls, trying to turn it off.

"So, fugitives, huh?" Han said to Ben as he walked into the lounge, chuckling at Finley.  
  
"The First Order wants that droid for some reason," Ben replied, gesturing to BB-8. "Probably intel. Whatever it is, Mom would be interested. We should definitely try to make sure Finley gets it to her."

"So I gather Finley here is with the Resistance?" Han gestured to Finley. "So, Finn...what do you know about this droid?"

Finley finally manages to turn the dejarik set off as BB-8 rolls in the center of the room.

"Let's see whatcha got," Han said.

BB-8 projected a holographic map, filling the room, planets, stars, solar systems.

They all reacted. Chewie sat to look up. Han moved through stars, eyebrows knit.

"It's a map" Han pointed out. "A peice of a map...but to where?"

Everyone turned to Finley.  
  
Finley shook her head. "All I know is that it's supposed to lead to Luke Skywalker."

The air seemed to get sucked out of the room. Han glanced nervously at Ben.

"Impossible," coughed Ben. "Luke Skywalker is dead."

"I dunno," Finley shrugged. "The Resistance _and_ The First Order _are_ after this droid and this map."

"Luke Skywalker is _dead_ ," Ben repeated, stone-faced.

Han put a hand on Ben's shoulder. "Son, there must be something substantial here if--"

"NO!!!" Ben slapped Han's hand away. The lights flickered inside the _Falcon_ for a moment.

"Son..." Han reached for him again.

"NO!!!" Ben roared. He stormed away. "Don't follow me! Just leave me the hell alone!"

Finley stared at Ben as he raged away through the corridor.

Han sighed and collapsed into a seat, rubbing his temples. BB-8 switched the map off.

"Luke Skywalker was Ben's uncle," Han explained wistfully. "My wife's side. Hah!"

Finley gasped.

"Luke was training a new generation of Jedi. Ben was one of them," Han revealed. "One night, a mysterious catastrophe happened. Ben was away, and came too late to help. Everything was destroyed."

Chewie moaned softly.

"Ben lost a lot of friends that night. One loss, a little girl...hit him the hardest," Han sighed again. "Ben felt responsible... He walked away from everything."  
  
"So what does this map mean?" Finley asked, her voice cracking. "If it is Luke Skywalker?"

"If he lived?" Han asked. "Luke was an enigma. Saw a lotta things in his life. If I had to guess...he always talked about finding the first Jedi Temple...but I doubt Luke would let everyone think he was dead without a good reason."  
  
"I was always told the Jedi weren't real," Finley shook her head.  
  
"I used to think that myself. Thought it was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo...a magical power holding together good, evil, the Dark Side and the Light," Han replied, his gaze intense. "Crazy thing is, it's true. The Force, the Jedi, all of it. It's all true."

Finley thought of Kira Ren's supernatural abilities. Of the horror stories she had heard about Supreme Leader Snoke...it was the Force. They had to be the Dark Side...

An alarm rang shrilly on the control station, breaking them out of their reverie. The noise prompted Han to toggle some switches and BB-8 cut off the hologram.

Chewie rose and moan-talked to Han, but Han motioned for Chewie to lay back down. "No, you rest."

Finley followed him made his way back to the cockpit.

"We're gonna see an old friend. She'll get your droid home," Han announced. "This is our stop."

Finley watched as the _Falcon_ drop out of lightspeed, revealing a beautiful green planet ahead.

The _Falcon_ crested over an endless green forest to reveal a castle on a picturesque lake, finally landing near the castle, among dozens of smallish freighters.

"Takodana...I'll get Ben," Han turned towards the _Falcon's_ quarters, but Finley stopped him.

"Hey, Solo -- I'm not sure what we're walking into here--"  
  
"D'you just call me "Solo"?" Han growled.

"Sorry. Han-- Mr. Solo. You should know, I'm a big deal in the Resistance. Which puts a real target  
on my back," Finley asked in a low voice. "Are there any conspirators here? First Order sympathizers?"  
  
Han turned and opened a storage bin of old blasters.

"Here, Big Deal," Han handed a blaster to her. "You might need this."

Finley took the blaster gingerly. The last time she held a blaster she was aiming it at innocents.

Han clapped her on the shoulder. "'Round here, if you got nothing to hide, then you got nothing to worry about."

 _Nothing to hide, nothing to worry about_.

That's exactly what Finley was worried about.


	9. Takodana

**Maz Kanata's Castle, Takodana**

When Han Solo found that his son Ben was not in his quarters on the _Millennium Falcon_ , he hurried out of the old frieghter to search for him. Though Ben had not actively practiced the Jedi arts in years, he was still strong in the Force and could be as physically capable and stealthy as slippery old Luke ever was.

He found him staring out at the old castle and beyond into the horizon.

"Thought I'd find you out here, son," Han said as he approached Ben.

"Do you think he's really alive out there, Dad?" Ben asked without looking at him.

"Luke?" Han replied.

"Yeah," Ben nodded.

Han put a hand on Ben's shoulder. Ben didn't shrug it off this time. "That's what we're here to begin to get an idea of."

Ben looked at the ground. "A part of me wants him to be alive. But then when I think about it...I get angry."

"You got questions for him," Han deduced.

"How did he survive?" Ben shrugged. "Why didn't he seek us out?"

Ben sighed and kicked at the ground with the toe of his boot.

"There's something else," Han squeezed his shoulder.

Ben turned to his father. "What does that mean about my place in the Force? My destiny?"

Han shook his head. "You know I can't answer that, Ben, and I wish I could. But we gotta make that first step to find out."

"Alright." Ben nodded and wrapped his arm around his father's back in a half hug. "But I'm calling bantha poodoo right now."

"Stranger things have happened, believe me," Han replied.

They heard footsteps approach and they turned to see Chewbacca, Finley, and BB-8.

Han sighed wearily and nodded to Chewie. "Check out the ship the best you can, everybody else: with me."

Chewie moan-talked in response as Han led them away to Maz Kanata's castle.  
  
"So, uh.." Finley began as they approached.

"Han. Just call me Han."

"So, Han...why are we here again?" Finley asked.

"To get your droid on a clean ship," Han replied simply.  
  
"Clean?" Finley inquired.

"Do you think it was luck that Chewie and I found the _Falcon_? If we can find it on our scanners, the First  
Order's not far behind," Han explained. "Want to get  
BB-8 to the Resistance? Maz Kanata is our best bet."  
  
"We can trust her, right?" Finley asked anxiously.  
  
"Relax, kid. She's run this watering hole for a thousand years," Han assured.

"A thousand years?!" Finley exclaimed.

"A thousand years," confirmed Ben.

"Maz is a bit of an acquired taste, so let me or Ben do the talking. And whatever you do, don't stare..."

"At what?" asked Finley.  
  
"Any of it," Han and Ben replied at the same time.

"You owe me a drink," Ben said to Han.

The door opened. Loud music and raucous laughter poured out. 

The four entered the loud, crowded mess of a hall, pushing through a room full of rough and odd aliens and humanoids, who gambled, drank, schemed, negotiated, and argued.

Han scanned the room until he saw the back of an ancient, tiny, four foot tall alien with golden skin.

The alien startled as if sensing something and then turned to them. She had large eyes, and wore large adjustable goggles, making her eyes appear even larger.

Underestimating Maz Kanata based on her age and size was a mistake many have made over the course of her long life, but a mistake only made once. The "Pirate Queen" was respected by criminal underworld, and she fed and nourished them, only asking they leave their troubles outside her doors.

Or else.

"Han Solo!" yelled Maz.

The conversations and music stopped and everyone turned to look at the new arrivals.  
  
"Oh boy..." Han said to himself. He waved and yelled "Hey, Maz!"

The noise returned and Maz walked to them, pushing someone out of the way in her approach.

"And is that Ben?" Maz chuckled. "My, how you have grown!"

"Hey, Maz," Ben smiled awkwardly.

Maz looked around. "Where's my boyfriend?"  
  
"Chewie's working on the Falcon," replied Han with a grin.

 _"Boyfriend?"_ mouthed Finley to Ben.

Ben grinned and nodded.

"I like that Wookiee. I assume you need something," Maz sighed. "Desperately. Let's get to it."

Maz walked off, gesturing for them to follow. Finley looked to Ben, and he gestured for her to follow them.

She did, and they passed the enormous Grummgar who sat with vixen Bazine Netal, who watched them suspiciously.

A small droid, designated GA-97, turned its head to see BB-8 following Finley across the room.

GA-97, now animated, made a small transmitting sound <Alert the Resistance. Their missing  
droid is here!>  
  
In a dark alcove, Bazine entered a shadowy space and stealthily made a call on a communicator. "Inform the First Order... I've found the droid."

***  
 **The _Finalizer_ , Illum Atmosphere**.

Kira Ren refused to spend any more time than she was required on that technological abomination that was Starkiller Base. Perhaps her connection to the Force had given her a sense of indignation over such a sacred place being so torn apart and raped to become a superweapon to a power hungry madman. 

True power was through the Force. True power is best wielded by those who are capable.

"Forgive me, Supreme Leader. I feel it again. The  
pull to the Light. I know you sense it," Kira looked up pleadingly, kneeling down before a soft glow.. "Show me again, the power of the Darkness, and I will let nothing stand in our way. Show me, Supreme Leader, and I will finish what you started."

Before her was the the massive scowling hologram of Supreme Leader Snoke. His discipline, his retribution would be terrible, yes. 

But necessary.

*******   
**Maz Kanata's Castle, Takodana**

Maz Kanata sat them at a table laden with food and drink as Han explained their quandary to her.  
  
"A map to Skywalker himself?" she chuckled after he was finished. "You're right back in the mess."  
  
"Maz, I need you to get this droid to Leia," replied Han.

Maz shook her head. "Hmm. No. You've been running away from this fight for too long. Han, nyakee nago wadda. Go home!"  
  
"Leia doesn't want to see me," Han sighed.  
  
"Please, we came here for your help," Ben implored.  
  
"Through the ages, I've seen evil take many forms. The Sith. The Empire," Maz's face became stern. "Today, it is the First Order. Their shadow is spreading across the galaxy. We must face them. Fight them. All of us."  
  
"There is no fight against the First Order! Not one we can win!" Finley exclaimed suddenly. She gestured around the room. "Look around. There's no chance we haven't been recognized already. I bet you the First Order is on their way right--"

Finley stopped, seeing Maz adjusting her goggles, her eyes getting huge as she scrutinized him.  
  
"What's this? What are you doing?" demanded Finley.

Maz adjusted her goggles again. Her eyes got almost impossibly larger. She grunted in recognition and hoisted herself on the tabletop, knocking over food and plates as she crawled towards Finley.  
  
"Ben, what is she doing?" Finley muttered.

"I don't know, but it ain't good," Ben replied.

"If you live long enough you see the same eyes in different people. I'm looking at the eyes of a person who wants to run," Maz explained knowingly.  
  
Finley glared at Maz. "You don't know a thing about me. "Where I'm from. What I've seen."

She looked around the table for support, pleading. "You don't know the First Order like I do. They'll slaughter us. We all need to run!"

The Solos stared solemnly at her. Maz, not so much. She crawled back to her chair. She pointed to some pirates in the corner.  
  
"You see those two?" Maz pointed to a group of pirates in the corner of the tavern. "They'll trade work for transportation to the Outer Rim. There, you can disappear."

Finley considered them.  
  
"Finn," Ben said quietly.  
  
"I'm going, Ben," Finley replied, resolute, avoiding his eyes.  
  
"What about BB-8?" Ben asked. "You made a promise to that droid to get him back to the Resistance base."  
  
"I can't," Finley shook her head, standing to leave. She offered the gun back to Han.   
  
"Keep it, kid," Han nodded.

Finley headed off without another word. Ben got up to follow.

Maz dialed her lenses back to normal, and turned to Han. "They have the same eyes, your son and her."

Han gave her a sad look and turned to watch Ben follow Finley as she arrived at the table with the alien smugglers.

"I was told you could get me to the Outer Rim," she said. They began a conversation before Ben approached the table.  
  
"Finley, Please...what are you doing?" Ben asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Don't leave without me," Finley demanded before turning her attention to Ben.

"Finn...you don't have to go," Ben said softly.  
  
"I'm not who you think I am," Finley admitted.

"Then tell me," Ben pleaded, his eyes almost hypnotic.

He was using the Force, Finley realized. She hardly knew him, just as much as he hardly knew her. She had to tell him _something_.

"I'm not Resistance. I'm not a hero. I'm a stormtrooper. FN-2187," Finley choked and looked away. "Like all of them, I was taken from a family I'll never know. And raised to do one thing..."  
  
Tears filled her eyes. "But my first battle, I made a choice. I wasn't going to kill for them. So I ran. Right into you. And you looked at me like no one ever had. I was ashamed of what I was. But I'm done with the First Order. I'm never going back."

"I know," Ben nodded, his gaze intense, yet warm. "I knew the entire time. But I was hoping you'd stay anyway."

Ben reached up and stroked her cheek. He leaned in for a kiss, but Finley stopped him by pressing her fingertips to his lips.  
  
"Take care of yourself. And BB-8. Please," Finley glanced at the droid wheeling up to them and smiled sadly before resigning herself to rejoin the alien pirates.

Ben sighed as she walked through the front doors, and started back to the table before stopping, hearing a noise, sensing an energy.

Mechanical breathing...a magnetic pull...

Ben followed the sound into the castle, turning so he couldn't see that Finley had looked back at him one last time.   
  
The feeling led him down the steps into a basement corridor. BB-8 followed him as Ben walked carefully, following the sounds of the mechanical breathing.

He headed down the hall to the very end, where there was a door.

It was locked. The mechanical breathing was almost deafening. A combination of dread, curiosity, and anticipation filled his mind.

Ben squeezed the handle, and it broke under his strength. As Ben stared at his hand, the door crept open.

Ben gingerly walked into the dark, small, vaulted storage room. Old treasures lined the floors and walls, but there was something specific he was drawn to: on a table, an old wooden box.

Ben shuffled to it, unsure, afraid, as if an energy from inside the box had been calling him here. BB-8 nervously followed.

Ben reached out, very slowly, to touch the box. 

Ben's breath caught when he opened it. Inside was the lightsaber thought by everyone to be lost on Cloud City over thirty years ago. His grandfather's lightsaber, then his uncle's. How Maz Kanata got ahold of it, he didn't know, and at this point, Ben didn't care. He just wanted to close the box and forget he even found it, but he couldn't.

He couldn't resist touching it. As he reached and made contact with it, he heard the piercing sound of a lightsaber igniting.

_FLASH!_

_An old man, once proud, now with fear in his eyes, twin lightsabers, one red, one blue, scissored at his neck._

_Dooku. He took his hand. Humiliated him in combat..._

_"Good, Anakin. Good," said another old man, fearless, despite being bound to a chair. "Kill him. Kill him now"_

_Palpatine. His praise was warm. Paternal._

_"I should'nt," Anakin protested, conflicted. "It's not the Jedi way."_

_"Do it!" Palpatine's voice became harsh. Compelling._

_Dooku's head fell and rolled across the floor with a sickening thud._

_FLASH!_

_It all happened so fast. Jedi Master Mace Windu was about to murder the Chancellor. Anakin couldn't have that. He needed him!_

_Anakin disarmed him, and Palpatine, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, finished off Windu with a surge of Force Lightning and send him flying out of the damaged window._

_"What have I done?" Anakin lamented._

_"You are fulfilling your destiny, Anakin," the now grotesque Darth Sidious replied. "Become my apprentice. Learn to use the Dark Side of the Force."_

_Anakin had decided. He had no other choice. Nowhere to turn to. "I will do whatever you ask."_

_Palpatine was delighted. "Good!"_

_"Just help me save Padme's life," Anakin pleaded. "I can't live without her!"_

_"To cheat death is the power only one has achieved," began Palpatine. "But if we work together, I know we can discover the secret."_

_"I pledge myself to your teachings," Anakin declared. "To the ways of the Sith."_

_"Good. Good! The Force is strong with you. A powerful Sith you will become...," Palpatine's eyes were illuminated with a demonic yellow glow. "_ _Henceforth, you shall be known as Darth...Vader."_

_"Thank you... my Master," the newly christened Darth Vader replied._

_"Rise," ordered Palpatine._

_The time of the Jedi was at an end. The Empire of the Sith was just beginning._

_"Execute Order 66!"_

_FLASH!_

_Darth Vader, with the 501st Legion behind him, ascended the steps of the ancient Jedi Temple with one goal in mind: cleansing._

_"Master Skywalker!" the Jedi youngling cried, looking to him for guidance. "What should we do?"_

_But Vader offered no guidance. Vader offered no mercy._

_With the ignition of his lightsaber, Vader offered only death._

_FLASH!_

_"You were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them!" Obi-Wan cried. "Bring balance to the force... not leave it in darkness!"_

_Vader was dying. Burning alive on the shores of a Mustafarian lava river. Limbs amputated._

_Obi-Wan did this to him. Turned Padme against him._

_"I HATE YOU!" Vader screamed as ash choked his lungs._

_The blow to Obi-Wan was as terrible as a lightsaber blade. "You were my brother, Anakin! I loved you!"_

_With one last pitying glance, Obi-Wan turned away and took the only thing left he had of his former friend and padawan: his lightsaber._

_FLASH!_

_Obi-Wan much older. Luke Skywalker, much younger._

_"I have something here for you. Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow it," Kenobi presented him with a cylindrical device. "He feared you might follow old Obi-Wan on some damn fool idealistic crusade like your father did."_

_"What is it?" Luke asked, activating the blue blade of the device._

_"Your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster; an elegant weapon for a more civilized age," Obi-Wan explained. "For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times... before the Empire."_

_FLASH!_

_Obi-Wan Kenobi stood before a man he once thought dead over twenty years before, now more machine than man. A black shrouded cyborg, a tool of the Dark Side._

_Once Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader._

_"I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan," Vader said in a voice so different than the one Kenobi remembered. "We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you I was but the learner, but now I am the master."_

_"Only a master of evil, Darth," Obi-Wan replied, raising his lightsaber._

_The pair fought, age and injury hindering the prowess of their prime years. Still, what Vader lacked in speed, he made up for in raw strength and power._

_"Your powers are weak, old man," Vader taunted, pushing against Obi-Wan's guard._

_Vader was physically superior, and he knew it. But the Sith Lord had a long way to go before he was as one with the Force as his former Master was._

_"You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine," Obi-Wan warned._

_This enraged Vader. "You should not have come back!"_

_Obi-Wan continued to hold him off, and saw Luke in the corner of his eye._

_Luke. Vader's son. He would be the one to redeem Anakin, not he. Obi-Wan's time had come._

_Vader's crimson blade cut a wide arc, but found only the Jedi's robes. Obi-Wan transformed into the Force._

_Luke reached out to save him. The lightsaber sailed into his hands. But he was being shot at. He had to leave._

_FLASH!_

_It was time. Master Yoda's training would pay off._

_Darth Vader would pay for his crimes._

_For the murder of Old Ben Kenobi. For Han Solo and countless others._

_Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader dueled within the heart of the airborne Cloud City of Bespin, but it soon became clear that the Sith Lord was toying with him._

_He was holding back._

_Vader pushed him back into the bridge above Cloud City's massive turbine chamber. Cornered him. Cut off his hand. The lightsaber fell, never to be seen again until a hapless maintenance worker happened upon it, unawares of its true significance._

_"There is no escape. Don't make me destroy you," Vader warned, deactivating his lightsaber as Luke crawled away, clutching onto a pole high above the turbines. "Luke, you do not yet realize your importance. You've only begun to discover your power. Join me, and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict, and bring order to the galaxy!"_

_"I'll never join you!" Luke snapped back, wincing in pain._

_**"** If only you knew the power of the Dark Side!" Vader cried. "Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father."_

_**"** He told me enough," Luke seethed. "He told me you killed him."_

_**"** No," Vader declared. "I am your father!"_

_**"** NO! NOOOOO!!!!---"_

_FLASH!_

Ben screamed. And screamed. "NOOOOOOO!!!!!"


	10. The First Order Descends

**Maz Kanata's Castle, Takodana**

Ben let go of the lightsaber as if it was burning hot, sweat dripping from his brow.

Of course he knew his grandfather Anakin Skywalker was once the Sith Lord Darth Vader. The news had broke years ago from a senator jealous of his mother as a means to discredit her. His mother never talked of his grandfather much, nor did Uncle Luke when he trained with him. Anakin Skywalker's service in the Clone Wars was mentioned in single sentence sound bytes, and then left at that. A great warrior. A powerful Jedi. Darth Vader was taboo. A curse word.

To learn the true depths of his evil...it was too much. He had felt evil that palpable only when he was a child, a malevolent presence that haunted his nightmares long before he was old enough to learn the ways of the Force.

Was it the spirit of Vader all along? It had been so long ago, like a bad memory.

Uncle Luke had told him that in his final moments, Vader had come back to the Light as Anakin, but after what Ben had seen...

Ben sensed a presence and turned to look.

Maz Kanata stood at the end of the corridor, realizing what had just happened.  
  
"That lightsaber was Luke's. And my...my grandfather's before him," gasped Ben, still overwhelmed by the vision.

"And now it calls to you!" Maz exclaimed rushing over to him.

Ben shook his head. "No."

Maz reached out and held Ben's large hand. "Young man. I see your eyes. You already know the truth. It was destiny that brought you here to the very same saber that your uncle and grandfather wielded."  
  
"That Vader wielded," spat Ben. "And slaughtered children with."

"Whatever happened in the past is behind you. Your destiny lies ahead. I am no Jedi, but I know the Force. It moves through and surrounds every living thing. Close your eyes. Feel it," urged Maz, squeezing his hand.

Ben shook his head. 

"The light. It's always been there. It will guide you. Your family's saber. Take it!" 

Ben stood up and jerked his hand away. "I'm never touching that thing again. I don't want any part of this!"

Ben stormed off, passing Maz and slamming the door behind him.

Ben's mind is spun as he hurried out of the castle with BB-8 at his heels. He brushed past his father, who stood up to follow him. Maz hurried into the hall and put her hand on his elbow, shaking her head.

"Let him run," Maz said gravely. "This is a journey he must take alone."

Ben headed towards the woods, moving through the foliage, his heart racing. He could hear a rumble in the distance, like a terrible omen.

_FLASH!_

_"I sense a dark shadow looming in the Force, Uncle," Ben said, pacing along Luke Skywalker's chambers within the Jedi Temple. "It hangs heavily over young Rey. I fear for her."_

_"I too feel uneasy," Luke agreed, his forehead against knit hands with elbows resting on a wooden desk._

_Ben turned to his master. "Something about it feels...familiar."_

_"Snoke..." Luke muttered, troubled. His eyes flashed and his brow furrowed. He sat up and crossed the room to face Ben._

_"I will speak with her," Luke assured him._

_"Uncle..." Ben objected._

_Luke put his flesh hand on his nephew's shoulder. "Don't worry. The Dark Side preys on the vulnerable. All she needs is reassurance and guidance, as you did."_

_Ben nodded and bowed slightly. "Yes, my Master."_

_Ben followed his uncle out of the temple and headed towards his hut. It was getting late, he should rest._

_But he knew that he wouldn't be able to, so he headed towards the woods surrounding the temple._

_A trek through the woods always did his mind well..._

_FLASH!_

***

**Starkiller Base, Illum**

A massive rally had gathered about the snowy landscape of Illum outside the brutalist structures of Starkiller Base.

Over a thousand stormtroopers and a fleet of TIE Fighters and vehicles stood before a podium stage as massive red First Order banners obscured the horizon.

General Hux, flanked by his cadre of officers gazed out at the vast army before him, fit to burst as he prepared to deliver his address, the address of his career.

"Today is the end of the Republic! The end of a regime that acquiesces to disorder! At this very moment, in a system far from here the New Republic lies to the galaxy while secretly supporting the treachery of the loathsome Resistance."

Hux paused and listened to the murmuring of the crowd. He had them in the palm of his gloved hands.

"This fierce machine which you have built, upon which we stand, will bring an end to the Senate! To their cherished fleet! All remaining systems will bow to the First Order! And will remember this... AS THE LAST DAY OF THE REPUBLIC!!!"

Engineers performed the final firing protocol, nervous, anticipatory, yet nonetheless confident that the massive weapon would work.

Hux turned to give the signal. "FIRE!"

The roar of thousands of boots on pavement echoed as the stormtroopers turned to face the endless snowy landscape.

For a moment, nothing. Then, eerily silent, an impossible blast of firelight like the sun itself blasted from miles away, into the sky, followed by a terrible explosive roar.  
  
Everyone in attendance was nearly pushed back by the magnitude of the blast, with many having to shield their eyes from the blinding light.

For miles around the firebeam, ice and snow melt and vaporize instantly. Runoff tunnels flooded with an ocean of fresh water. Airborne creatures by the thousands burst from trees and take flight.

Hux watched the display, his eyes wild with power and evil.

One person was notable in her absence from the rally: Kira Ren.

She stood on the bridge of the _Finalizer_ as it departed to Takodana, looking on the beam erupted from the planet and illuminated the viewport before her.

The Supreme Leader had approved of such an abomination of nature and technology, but not she. She was detached from it, an observer. 

General Hux was a child playing with fire, and he had the torch.

***

**Maz Kanata's Castle, Takodana**

With her heart heavy, Finley prepared board the alien freighter to begin her life of hiding from the First Order.

The sound in the sky makes her turn back. As she saw the path of fire in the sky like a meteor, her blood ran cold and her heart sunk.

The beam traveled to the planets of the Hosnian System, capital of the Republic, increasingly lighting them like sunrise, then powerfully hitting them with the vast fireblast which obliterated them all like a supernova.

Senators and dignitaries looked on in uncomprehending horror to the night sky of the galactic center of government, Hosnian Prime.

The light grew from a great distance, a circle of fire, a small sun turning night into day. Within seconds the fire blocked out everything else, and the entire planet of Hosnian Prime was incinerated.

A crowd of aliens filed out from inside Maz's castle on Takodana, all eyes on the fire in the sky. Dozens of languages exclaimed in fear and terror.Han Solo and Chewbacca were those among them, sharing in the collective horror.

"It was the Republic," Finley said, weaving through the crowd to join Han and Chewie, dread filling her words. "The First Order, they've done it."

Han looked solemn and Chewie moaned softly. But there was someone missing.

She looked around. "Where's Ben?"

***

Ben Solo raced through the forest and finally came to a stop to catch his breath.

His own hyperventilation reminded him horribly of Darth Vader's mechanical breathing, so he punched a tree and fought to stifle his own gasps.

He glanced up at the sky and saw the light. He had a bad feeling about that light.

Ben then heard a beep and he turned to see that the droid BB-8 catching up with him.  
  
"What are you doing?"

The droid beeped a response.

"You have to go back."

BB-8 beeped again.

"BB-8. No, you can't -- you have to go back, you're too important," Ben reasoned. "They'll help you."

BB-8 beeped, but his response was drowned out by another sound. He looked up again. 

In front of the Hosnian System attack, a fleet of First Order ships roared overhead, straight towards Maz Kanata's castle for an invasion.

Ben went from shocked to angry.

His friends were in danger.

***

Maz led Han, Finley, and Chewie swiftly down the hall to the treasure room, hurrying over to the box that Ben had abandoned.

"I've had this for ages..." Maz said as she opened the box and held out the lightsaber to Finley. "Kept it locked away."

Han recognized it immediately. "Where'd you get that?"  
  
Maz grinned. "A good question for another time."

Her face became serious as she turned to Finley. "Take it! Find your friend!"

Finley gingerly grabbed it as the room is shaken by an above ground attack.  
  
"Those beasts!" hissed Maz. "They're here!"

***

Ben and BB-8 raced back toward the castle, towards the explosions as Maz' castle was being demolished by First Order ships.

Aliens ran away from the assault and were obliterated by screaming TIE Fighters. Transports landed and squads of stormtroopers hurried out to fire at the fleeing patrons.

_FLASH!_

_Ben Solo wandered aimlessly through the forests of the temple, troubled by young Rey's increasingly withdrawn behavior. They've been talking less, sparring less. Perhaps she was in the throes of adolescence, he was like that at her age. Moody, hormonal. It was natural._

_A distant flash of light behind him and a deafening explosion shook Ben from his thoughts._

_He whipped around, eyes wide in dismay._

_The temple!_

_FLASH!_

A filtered radio call grabbed Ben's attention: nearby  
stormtroopers have spotted him and fired.  
  
"FN-417, hold position!" a stormtrooper shouted.

Ben took cover and grabbed his blaster, firing back at the troopers, hitting them with pinpoint accuracy. He wasted little time and retreated as more troopers gave chase, calling BB-8 to find cover as he fired back at them.

"C'mon, you sons-a-bitches!" he yelled, hoping the stories of their inaccurate marksmanship were true.

***

A cloaked, hooded Kira Ren moved through the debris of Maz Kanata's castle, indifferent to the destruction around her. Her mind was fixated on one thing. Solo.

No, the droid. The droid. The BB unit.

A stormtrooper approached her, but she ignored him. An insect that had better get out of her way quickly lest he get squished.

"M'lady, the droid was spotted heading west, with a man," the stormtrooper reported, keeping himself a distance from the volatile femme fatal. 

Kira Ren looked back sharply, in Ben's direction. Wordlessly she stalked off in pursuit of her prey like a hungry wolf.

***  
Ben's dodge, weave, and spray 'n' pray tactic was not working. He was too worried about BB-8 getting hit with an errant blast. He'd have to take a risk for the both of them.

"You have to keep going, stay out of sight!" Ben ordered. "I'll fight 'em off."

BB-8 beeped bravely despite its trepidation.

"I hope so, too," Ben replied.

BB-8 beeped and headed off and Ben ran and took cover behind a massive, mossy tree, blaster at the ready.

***

Han, Chewie, Finley and Maz climbed up to peek through the debris, exhausted and weary.

Han drew his blaster as Chewbacca readied his bowcaster. "Come on, Chewie!"

Finley was hesitant about joining them. Not only was she terrified to face the Order, was she was hesitant to kill. It was the primary reason why she left the Order in the first place. She didn't want to take a life

"They need you," Maz urged, turning to her. "Now go!"  
  
"I need a weapon," Finley replied.

Maz grabbed her wrist and held up Finley's shaking hand. 

Finley looked down. The lightsaber?  
  
"You have one!" Maz yelled sternly.

Finley was numb. She looked at Maz questioningly --she's supposed to use the lightsaber?!

Maz nodded.

Finley turned it on. The hilt vibrated in her hand and the blue light illuminated her face. 

Finley's face set with determination. It was as if she took in the courage of the wielders of the weapon before her. 

She could do this!


	11. The Battle of Takodana

The trio charged forward into battle!

Han and Chewbacca took cover and traded blaster fire with the stormtroopers while Finley maneuvered behind debris.

As Han and Chewie distracted the troopers, Finley snuck behind some outliers and ran one through with the lightsaber. As that one fell, she struck again. As untrained in lightsaber combat as she was, she was brave and athletic, and that was enough for her to hold her own.

Adrenalized, Finley spun around to take on her next opponent. A new trooper had an electrified mace.

"Traitor!" the new trooper yelled angrily.

She recognized the voice. FN-999. A former squad mate. Like a brother.

"Nines," Finley pleaded. "We don't have to do this!"

"Don't "Nines' me, FN-2187!" Nines roared. "You're dead!"

Finley and Nines battled. They were evenly matched, but Finley was reluctant to kill her former comrade, but the ruthless Nines knocked her down and prepared to strike the killing blow before he fell to a blaster shot.

Finley looked around wildly and saw Han run over, having fired the blast! 

Finley sighed sadly as Han reached out to help her up.  
  
"You okay, Big Deal?" Han asked as Finley grasped his hand.  
  
"I will be," grunted Finley as Han pulled her up and she rose to her feet.

A crunch of boots on earth and debris, and then ten stormtroopers came over a ride, blasters aimed.  
"Don't move! TK-338, we have targets in custody!"

No way out, the three had no choice but to drop their weapons.

A stormtrooper came by and snatched the lightsaber from Finley's hand. Finley gave him a dirty look, but there was little else she could do.

Han's mind raced as a squad of troopers appeared behind them. He hoped Ben and the droid at least made it out as the troopers marched him, Chewie and Finley towards a transport with their hands behind their heads.

A noise resounded throughout the area, ripping across the lake. It was a mechanical din, but different than the whine of a TIE Fighter.

The troopers turned to the new noise, and coming toward them across the water were Resistance X-Wings and frieghters, opening fire upon the First Order ships!

"We have incoming at two-eight-point-six! Move! Dispatch! Move! Scramble all squads! Repeat, scramble all squads! Anti-air cover en route to our position!" cried a stormtrooper commander.  
  
Han smiled broadly and nodded. "It's the Resistance."

A black marked X-Wing swooped down and took out the parked TIE Fighters and fleeing stormtroopers.  
  
It was Poe Dameron at the helm of his X-wing!

"Go straight ahead and don't let these dogs scare you!" ordered Poe to his other wingmen.  
  
<Copy that!> Jessika Pava replied over Poe's com.  
  
<We're with you, Poe!> added Snap Wexley.

The Stormtroopers around Finley, Han and Chewie scattered, tossed in explosions. The flew from the stormtrooper's grip and landed before Finley, who quickly picked it up.

"Quick!" yelled Han who grabbed his and Chewie's blasters and tossed Chewie's to the Wookiee.

The fight started anew an Han blasted a recovering trooper, and Finley looked to the skies

"Woohoo! YEAH!" cheered Finley, whooping as Poe's X-Wing zoomed overhead. "That's one helluva pilot!"

"WOO HOO!!!!" hollered Poe into his intercom, overjoyed at the Resistance's apparent victory.

***

In the darkened woods, Ben Solo, weary, kept his blaster aimed.

He could sense a presence approach, oddly familiar but it was as if it was obscured by a dark shadow, twisted into something alien. Ben's eyes darted around for his pursuer. 

He could hear the sound of a lightsaber being activated, but one unlike he's ever heard: rasping and crackling.  
  
His heart skipped a beat. Was it fear? Anticipation? Both?

Kira Ren appeared from behind a tree like a black clad spectre of death, face partially hidden by a dark hood, and Ben reactively fired his blaster, again and again .

Kira moved toward him, using her long hilted lightsaber to deflect every blast.

Ben fired ferociously, accurately, but she just kept coming!

An almost dainty uncovered hand, nails painted black, rose from the cloak. Ben suddenly stopped firing and dropped the blaster, gasping and unable to move. It had been years, but he recognized the Force Stasis technique anywhere.

" _You..._ " whispered Kira, pacing around the frozen Ben.

She walked around him, slowly, examining him from head to toe like a predator to a prey.

"You're alive," Kira hissed.

She came around to see his grimacing face, and whipped the lightsaber to Ben's eyes, illuminating his features with a brilliant red glow.

"Ben Solo..."

After a tense moment, Kira turned off her saber and reached up to Ben's face, caressing it almost like a lover.

Ben couldn't move and strained in agony as Kira psychically entered his mind with the Force.

A soft gasp, and removed her hand. "The map. You've seen it."

Ben's face twisted in a helpless rage. Kira touched his face again. Tears welled in his eyes from the psychic invasion as she took more from his mind, but Ben would let his tears fall. He wouldn't give the First Order the satisfaction.

Suddenly, Kira Ren, mid-interrogation, turned towards the sounds of the distant explosions. Stormtroopers approached through the woods heading directly towards the pair.

"M'lady! Resistance fighters! We need more troops!"

Kira turned back to Ben, her hand still on his face.

"Pull the division out. Forget the droid. I have what I need," ordered Kira. She gestured to the troopers to stand aside Ben.

A gesture from Kira Ren and Ben lost consciousness. He fell into the stormtroopers' arms and they slung his arms across their shoulders.

"Careful with him," warned Kira. "He is not to be harmed."

She caressed his unconcious face once more and walked ahead without another word. The troopers looked at each other, but nonetheless followed her lead.

***

Poe's black marked X-Wing swooped down for another pass, destroying another TIE Fighter!

"Pull back the tree line!" cried a retreating stormtrooper before being taken out by a bowcaster bolt.

Han and Chewie dodged debris, firing their blasters and taking out troopers.

Considering a blaster better suited to her skills following her lost duel with Nines, Finley incapacitated a couple of troopers with a blaster, aiming to injure, not kill. Out of breath, she glanced at the forest.

Kira Ren strode out towards her shuttle, unconcerned with the carnage going on around her. Close behind were a pair of stormtroopers...carrying Ben.

Han stopped and was rocked by the sight of his son being carried unconsciously into Kira Ren's shuttle. 

A rush of emotions overwhelmed Finley, and she charged forward, unwilling to let their last moments together in the castle be the last time they ever see each other.

"NO!!" cried Finley, running towards the shuttle through laser blasts and explosions. "BEN!!!"

It was all for naught, as the shuttle began to rise and take off. 

"No, no, no, no... BEN!!" screamed Finley, desperately chasing after the receding shuttle.

In the forests, following Ben's last orders, BB-8 moved fast towards the safety of cover. It then stopped and looked up as the First Order ships retreated off planet. The droid considered, and BB-8 headed back for the castle.

***

Post battle, and the survivors were tended to by the Resistance. Wounded stormtroopers were taken prisoners, and the dying stormtroopers were put out of their miseries.

"She took him! Did you see that?!" Finley cried hysterically, running up to Han and Chewbacca. "She took him! He's gone!"

Han held her back by grabbing her upper arms. "I know, kid. You gotta calm down."

"They're going to torture him!" yelled Finley. "Kira Ren is going to--"

"Listen, kid!" Han roared, shaking her. A little softly, "My boy will be fine. He's got the blood of Jedi and a tough sumbitch like me running through his veins."

A landing Resistance transport caught his eye. Finley turned to see what Han was staring at.

The transport door opened, and a short middle-aged woman stepped out.

Han took Finley's head in his hands. "Ben is going to make it, trust me. Trust Leia."

Finley nodded and Han headed towards the transport. Chewie moan-talked softly and patted Finley's shoulder before following Han.

Leia Organa, once princess of Alderaan, Senator to the New Republic, now stood as a General of the Resistance, delegating a task to a subordinate as Han and Chewie approached.

She was stunned when she saw them, and in the smoke and embers, no one said a word.

So many things to say, so many questions they had to ask each other, this husband and wife who had been apart for so long!

Han was about to talk when a familiar golden protocol droid with a decidedly unfamiliar appendage walked out from the transport and into the field.

"Goodness! Han Solo! It is I, C-3PO!" the protocol droid greeted. He stopped. "You probably don't recognize me because of the red arm."

Han rolled his eyes. Undaunted by the ambient awkwardness, Threepio turned to Leia. "Look who it is! Did you see who? Oh. Excuse me, Prin-- uh, General."

Leia's gaze was enough to give Threepio pause, so he then hastily turned to BB-8. "Sorry. Come along, BB-8. Quickly."

BB-8 beeped a reply.

"Yes, I must get my proper arm reinstalled," Threepio agreed, hurrying off.

"You changed your hair," Han said once they were alone.  
  
"Same jacket," Leia said simply.  
  
Han puffed out his jacket. "No, new jacket."

Chewie greeted Leia with a hug, moan-talking a few words as he wrapped her up in his large, hairy arms.

Chewie then looked at Han and then headed towards the _Falcon,_ undamaged by the battle.

Han sighed, and then stepped her closer, solemn and apprehensive.

"They took him, Leia. The First Order took him."


	12. D'Qar

**Resistance Base, D'Qar, Illenium System**

The _Millennium Falcon_ and surviving Resistance X-Wings and transports descended among the grassy mounds and sunken structures of the asteroid-ringed planet of D'Qar.

Those grassy mounds covered the expansive and utilitarian hangers of the base, shaded by odd, giant trees.

Among the Resistance ground crew tending to the arriving ships, Finley, closely followed by BB-8, ran from the landed _Falcon_ , taking in the incredible fusion of nature and technology that was the Resistance base. It was a stark contrast to the gleaming, sterile chrome and lifeless machinery that she was used to in the First Order.

It was great.

But Finley wasn't here to sightsee. Ben was out there. The First Order had him, and she was determined to get him back.

She heard a beep, and then BB-8 sped right past her, almost knocking her down. Finley watched as BB-8 rolled over to a pilot getting out of the black-marked X-Wing that Finley remembered from the battle at Takodana.

The pilot's helmet came off, revealing to her Poe Dameron, alive!  
  
Finley couldn't believe what she was seeing. Poe, kneeling in a warm reunion with BB-8, listened and reacted to something the droid told him. Poe looked up and saw Finley -- and he couldn't believe it either!

Poe smiled and pointed at Finley. From a distance, Finley gestured in sheer amazement that Poe was alive.  
  
"Poe," murmured Finley, moving numbly towards Poe.

The two tightly embraced, holding each other until Finley held him by arm's length, taking him in, disbelieving.  
  
"You're alive!" exclaimed Finley.  
  
"So are you!" laughed Poe.  
  
"What happened to you?" asked Finley, her smile making her face ache.  
  
"What happened?" repeated Poe. He thought for a second. "I got thrown from the crash, woke up at night -- no you, no ship, nothing--"

BB-8 beeped and Poe listened, turning to Finley.  
  
"BB-8 says that you saved him," Poe smiled appreciatively at Finley.

"No, no, no," Finley deflected. "It wasn't just me."  
  
"You completed my mission, Finn," Poe put his hands on her shoulders. "That's my jacket?"

"Oh here," Finley began to take off the jacket.  
  
"No, no, no. Keep it. It suits you," Poe stopped her and readjusted the jacket for her, flaring the collar. "You're a good person, Finley."  
  
Finley beamed, and then her face fell when she remembered another friend of her's. "Poe...I need your help."

***  
Poe led Finley into the Resistance base and into the makeshift command center, buried deep among vines and roots. They arrived to find Leia with a group of Resistance Officers, including the crustacean-like Mon Calamari Admiral Gial Ackbar, a hero of the Battle of Endor; and a human, the youthful yet graying Admiral Ushos O. Statura, all clustered around a holographic screen attended by a pretty young blonde technician named Lieutenant Kaydel Ko Connix.  
  
"General Organa. Sorry to interrupt, this is Finley, she needs to talk to you --" Poe began as the pair entered.  
  
Leia nodded and took Finley's hand. "And I need to talk to her. That was incredibly brave, what you did. Renouncing the First Order, saving this man's life --"

Finley was surprised she knew who she was. "Thank you, ma'am -- but a friend of mine was taken prisoner--"  
  
"Yes, I know, I--" Leia began.

Finley was startled when Poe jumped in. "Finn's familiar with the weapon that destroyed the Hosnian system. She worked on the base."  
  
Leia nodded. "We're desperate for anything you can  
tell us."  
  
"That's where my friend was taken!" cried Finley. "I've got to get there, fast."

"I know. Your friend is my _son,_ " Leia said calmly. "And I will do everything I can to help, believe me, but first you must tell us all you know."

Finley had to take a second to process that. Ben's mother. Luke Skywalker's sister. A general for the Resistance, yet so much more powerful than even _that_.

Finley looked into Leia's eyes. She had the same intense yet warm eyes Ben did.

She remembered what Han told her: to trust Leia.

So that's what she did.

***

Threepio took the data device from BB-8 and inserted it into the base computer. The projected map appeared in a hologram, just like on the Falcon. Leia studied it, growing more and more dispirited the longer it took her to find what she was looking for.

Han watched her from a distance, wanting to offer her his support but knowing that he may also distract her during this crucial moment.  
  
"General, I regret to inform you, but this map recovered from BB-8 is only partially complete. And even worse, it matches no charted system on  
record. We simply do not have enough information to locate Master Luke," Threepio reported solemnly.  
  
Leia sighed heavily. Another complication. "I can't believe I was so foolish to think that I could just find Luke and bring him home..."  
  
"Leia..." Han put a hand on her shoulder. He knew that look. It was the same look she had almost a decade ago after the disaster.  
  
Leia shrugged it off. "Don't do that."  
  
"Do what?" asked Han.  
  
"Anything," snapped Leia before heading off.

"Princesses," muttered Han. He tried to ignore the peering eyes burning a hole in him.

Flummoxed, he followed Leia across a base corridor. "I'm trying to be helpful!"

Leia whipped around to glare at him. "When did that ever help? And don't say the Death Star."

Han had no answer for that. Leia shook her head angrily and turned her back on him again.

***  
With his mission complete and of no immediate use, BB-8 as he rolled away from the bickering humans found a shape like an astromech under a dark and dusty tarp in a corner.

BB-8 beeped and pulled off the tarp and tried to start a conversation with the astromech. It was a blue and white R2 unit, distinctive by its bin-like body, upside-down "T" like wheeled legs and domed head.

This was no ordinary R2 unit: this was R2-D2, legendary for its service during the Battle of Naboo, all the way through the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War, just as decorated a hero as any organic was. Artoo was Luke Skywalker's personal astromech and his father Anakin's before him. 

BB-8 was anxious to tell Artoo what an honor it was to meet him and perhaps transmit some data from their adventures, But Artoo didn't respond at all.

BB-8 tried again. Nothing. BB-8 nudged the droid. Again, nothing.

"Oh, BB-8," sighed an approaching Threepio. "You're wasting your time."

BB-8 looked up at Threepio, who stood there staring at his old companion. If it was possible for a protocol droid to display emotion, Threepio would be very melancholy indeed.

"It is very doubtful that Artoo would have the rest of the map in his backup data," speculated Threepio.

BB-8 beeped a suggestion.

"I am afraid not. R2-D2 has been in low power mode ever since Master Luke went away. Sadly, he may never be his old self again," Threepio caressed Artoo's dome for a moment, and then walked away, leaving BB-8 to lament the futility of its mission.

***  
  
"Listen to me, will you?" Han pleaded, spinning Liea around with a hand on her shoulder. "I know you've... I know you've always resented me for putting Ben in harm's way, for encouraging this life, but--"

"I don't blame you, Han," Leia sighed, folding her arms. "He made his choice. We all made our choices."

"There was too much of me in him," Han smiled sadly.

"There was too much Skywalker in him, too," Leia pointed out. "The life of a Jedi would have been just as dangerous as life a smuggler."

"Or a rebel," Han added. He shook his head. "Our problems started long before the temple disaster... the temple disaster was just the tipping point. We all dealt with it in our own way. By going back to the only things we were ever good at."

"Yes," Leia smiled. "Marriage was never our strong suit."  
  
"But we're here right now," Han pointed out. He shrugged. "I know we can't change the past, but--"

Leia smiled hopefully and took his hands. "We can change our future."

The two embraced. Leia rested her head on Han's chest, squeezing her eyes to stop the tears. She would not cry. A general never cried.

"Let's get our son back," murmured Han, holding her tight.

Leia kissed him on the cheek. "Together."

Just then, Admiral Statura rushed in and the two broke apart. "General, the reconnaissance report on the enemy base is coming!"


	13. The Interrogation

**Interrogation Chamber, Starkiller Base, Illum.**

Ben awoke, disoriented. He was in an angled, upright  
restraining rig, unable to move. The room he was in was brightly lit, he had to blink to adjust his eyes to the light.

He looked around, and was startled to see a cloaked Kira Ren sitting in the corner, hood pulled low, her arms wrapped around her shins.

"Where am I?" Ben demanded, straining against the shackles of the rig.

"You're my guest," Kira said warmly after a few second's pause.  
  
"Where are the others?" Ben asked.  
  
"You mean the murderers, traitors and thieves you call friends?" Kira replied as Ben stared at her. "You'll be relieved to hear that I have no idea."

Ben studied her. This...girl. It was bizarre. She was strong in the Force, and clearly an authority figure...but she sat and spoke like a rebellious, petulant teenager.   
  
"You still want to kill me," Kira observed.

"I'm thinking about it," Ben admitted. "I typically don't take well to being held hostage, even by pretty young girls. Especially _dangerous_ , pretty young girls."

Kira grinned under her hood and stood up. She threw aside her cloak and did a turn for Ben to see.

She wore all black: sleeveless turtleneck style shirt, pants, and boots, with a long, black, tunic-like scarf, held in place by a thick waistbelt. On her arms were black wrapping-like arm sleeves, going up about mid-bicep in length.

What caught Ben's attention was the hair. Long and brunette, arranged in a distinctive triple bun style. 

There was no mistaking it. And her energy, that familiar energy... 

It couldn't be!

_"Rey?"_

"Rey was weak, so I killed her. And I became someone stronger, thanks to Supreme Leader Snoke," Kira replied, hardly reacting to her old name. "Now. Down to business."

"You're alive," Ben's voice choked with emotion.

"Yes. Yes, and so is Luke Skywalker," Kira snapped impatiently, foregoing all pretense and moving closer to him. "You've seen the map. Tell me about the droid."

"How?" Ben asked. His mind was racing. It couldn't be her...

"I didn't bring you here for a reunion, Solo," Kira snarled. "Tell me about the droid!"  
  
Ben looked away from her, disappointed and emotional. He closed his eyes and fought to center himself. "He's a BB unit with a selenium drive and a thermal hyperscan vindicator-- "  
  
"Enough," Kira gestured, and he was silenced, his head pushed against the headrest. She reached towards him. "You know I can take whatever I want."

Trepidation flashed across Ben's eyes. Kira moved closer, her hand rising toward him. He recoiled, but he had nowhere to go.

Kira touched his face, caressing it like before. Her lips parted, and her eyes softened for a second before turning hard and stern again.

The pain of the probing began, and Ben quietly strained in agony, trying to resist the probing.

"Hnn! Get out of my head..." Ben demanded.

But that just made Kira lean closer. "I know you've seen the map. It's in there... and now you'll give it to me. Don't be afraid. I feel it too..."

"I'm not giving you anything," gritted Ben.

"We'll see," she peered into his eyes intensely, and the probing, and the pain, intensified.

"...An explosion ... The temple..." Kira's eyes wavered. "A rush of trees...you were too late...."

Tears streamed down Ben's rage-filled face as he resisted. He tried to break free, but he couldn't budge. Why was she going _there_? Those memories?

"You ran away," Kira blinked. She shook her head and a sickly smile crossed her face. "You believed it all to be your fault."

"No...no...no..." moaned Ben.

She brushed his hair away, almost to comfort him before pushing her thumb into his temple.

"Now... you're afraid of becoming Darth Vader," Kira snorted derisively. " _Coward_."

The name, the insult, triggered Ben. "Get out of my head!"

Kira grimaced, her confidence melting away as she  
slammed up against a barrier in Ben's mind. She looked less certain by the moment as Ben seemed to grow in strength. The ferocity of the psychic confrontation built until it hit critical mass, and Ben pushed back to enter _her_ mind!

"I SAID GET OUT OF MY FUCKING HEAD!" roared Ben.

_FLASH!_

_"What will he think? What will he say?" were the questions that ran through the mind of eleven-year-old Rey as she approached Ben Solo's dormitory at the Jedi Temple._

_Ben had always been there for her ever since Master Luke had taken her from her wardship to Lor San Tekka on Jakku a few years prior to study as a padawan learner._

_She had formed an immediate connection with him, like magic. A kinship, a...bond. She always saw him as an older brother...until recently._

_She started having these thoughts. These feelings. Every time she saw him, her heart would race, her stomach would do somersaults. She would feel...warm. A tingle in her most private of areas._

_She wanted more from him. She knew he was older...ten years older...but..._

_"Would he understand? Could he help me make sense of these feelings?"_

_If anybody could help,_ _if anyone would understand, it would be Ben._

_Rey reached up to knock on his door when a collection of sounds caught her attention. A bed creaking. Grunts and groans._

_Concerned, Rey tested the door handle. It was unlocked. She creaked open the door and peered inside._

_It was Ben...and Tai. Together._

_Tai was a fellow padawan. A close friend of Ben's...more than friends, that much was apparent to Rey, even someone as young and sexually naive as her._

_Ben was naked. On top of Tai...kissing him...thrusting into him..._

_Rey saw enough. The creaked door slammed as she ran off, tears streaming down her red-hot, embarrassed cheeks._

_FLASH!_

Ben gasped from the revelation, and KIra Ren suddenly withdrew her hand from his cheek, as if his face was burning hot. She took a step back, her beautiful face twisted in fury and her large eyes brimming with tears.

"Rey..." Ben made the momentary mistake of pitying her, and paid for it when she Force-pushed his head into the headrest of the rig before abruptly leaving.

Ben sighed when she left. Did she do it? Did she destroy the temple?

All because she was _jealous?_

***

"Ben Solo resisted you?" Supreme Leader Snoke demanded when Kira Ren reconvened before his enormous hologram inside the spacious assembly room .

Kira Ren stood before Snoke, head bowed. "Time away and disuse have dulled his edge...but he still remains strong in the Force."

"And the droid?" inquired Snoke, his sunken eyes narrowing.

Kira hesitated to reveal the truth. She had been foolish. She had found herself so fixated upon Ben that the droid almost became an afterthought.

"Ren believed it was no longer valuable to us," General Hux interjected, entering the large space and moving to a platform beside Kira. "That Solo was all we needed. As a result, the droid has most likely been returned to the hands of the enemy. They may have the map already."

Snoke was visibly furious. "Then the Resistance must be destroyed before they get to Skywalker."  
  
"We have their location," reported Hux proudly. "We tracked their reconnaissance ship to the Ileenium system."  
  
"Good. Then we will crush them once and for all. Prepare the weapon," ordered Snoke, and Hux was dismissed, and left with a smug and vindictive grin on his pale face.

Kira glared back. She hated how this madman was gaining Leader Snoke's favor with this abominable base.

Snoke turned his attention back to Kira, his anger apparent.

"Supreme Leader. I can get the map from Solo," pleaded Kira. "I just need your guidance."

"No!" roared Snoke, and Kira cowered. "No. Hux will take over that assignment. Your... _attachment_ to Solo have left you compromised... There will be consequences..."

"No! Please! Let me prove myself!" Kira fell to her knees. "He is the scion of Vader! If we can turn him--"

"Bring him before me then, Mistress Ren!" roared Snoke. "Do not fail me again!"

Snoke's enormous hologram abruptly flickered off, leaving Kira alone in the dark and spacious assembly room, an island unto herself. 

She collapsed to her knees, sweating profusely and gasping for breath. 

She closed her eyes and called upon her meditation skills to collect herself. She knew what she had to do. She stood up and headed straight for the Interrogation Chamber.

***

Ben's mind still raced over what had transpired between him and Rey...Kira Ren. He was flooded with  
emotions, from the disbelief and fleeting joy that Rey was alive, and the subsequent grief that she was lost instead to the Dark Side. His mind reeled from the shock of her memory, of that secret forbidden tryst with Tai from so long ago...

He knew he had to escape, that much was clear. Physically, it would have been impossible. Would have to tap into the Force, something he hadn't consciously done in over eight years. He could sense people, or tell when someone was lying or being truthful, but actively using the Force to influence another being or the environment around him?

No choice.

Ben turned to a stormtrooper guard that Kira installed at the door.

He studied him, calling upon the Force. "You will remove these restraints. And leave this cell, with the door open."

The stormtrooper guard turned to look at him.

"What did you say?" snapped the trooper.

Ben's eyes stayed trained on him. He shifted in his restraints, confidence wavering, but he repeated his command with authority:

"You will remove these restraints. And leave this cell, with the door open."

The stormtrooper guard, rifle aimed, moved towards him.

Ben's heart pounded. He was so unpracticed. The tension was unbearable when the guard said "I'll tighten those restraints, rebel scum!"

Ben clenched his jaw, staring intently at the trooper. He calmed himself and tried again.  
  
"You will remove these restraints. And leave this cell, with the door open."

"I will remove these restraints. And leave this cell, with the door open," the trooper finally obeyed, reaching down to unlatch the restraints

The trooper then started to head out, still armed, his back to him as he exited.

" _Shit!_ " Ben muttered. Then louder: "And you will drop your weapon!"  
  
"I'll drop my weapon," the trooper guard dropped his weapon without turning back and left the cell with the door open.

With a slight grin, Ben picked up the blaster. He found himself remembering one of his Uncle Luke's stories about his namesake, Obi-Wan "Old Ben" Kenobi and his use of the mind trick.

Ben cocked the blaster and headed towards the door. "Ben Kenobi, eat your heart out."


	14. Preparing for Battle

**Starkiller Base, Illum.**

Kira Ren hurried towards the Interrogation Chamber, a sense of urgency and anticipation carrying her.

She thought him dead only days ago, and now she had the opportunity to bring Ben to her side again. Leader Snoke would see to it that the poisonous Light be snuffed out, and Ben continue on from where the great Darth Vader left off before he was turned by the lies of the Jedi Luke Skywalker.

Kira turned the corridor to the chamber. Even from across the hall, she could tell the chamber was open, and that no guard was present.

In a flash, Kira closed the distance and burst into the chamber, finding no one inside.

Not for the first time, Kira cursed her shortsightedness. She underestimated him. Of course he had access to the Force, and her mind probe only served to reinforce his need to connect to it.

Kira ripped out her lightsaber, and with a guttural scream of raw fury slashed at the restraining rig that once contained her captive.

Once the rig was a mess of molten slag and warped metal, Kira turned her attention towards the instrumentation.

But it wasn't enough. Someone had to pay for this.

"GUARDS!!!!!" Kira shrieked. "GGGUUUUAAAARRRDDDSSS!!!!!"

A pair of stormtroopers crossed the far end of the hall that Kira had traversed minutes earlier. They were greeted by the horrible sounds of destruction and ear-piercing shrieking. A few pieces of red hot debris tumbled and clattered into the corridor before them. They stopped, and then retreated.

Fast.

***

General Armitage Hux watched the various technicians and workers at their stations, there for one reason and one reason only: to enforce his will. The will of the First Order.

"Begin charging the weapon!" roared Hux.  
  
"Yes, sir!" called a technician. "Weapon charging!"

Gauges rose. Computer displays beeped out a complex wave of information.

At the planets surface, a vast solarvac array surrounded a port ten miles in diameter. Millions of panels turn on the array, creating a wave of brilliant reflections.

Suddenly, like a planetary-scale Tesla coil line of energy, the power of the sun began to travel down  
to the Starkiller Base planet.

The end of the Resistance was nigh.

***

**Resistance Base, D'Qar**

The command of the Resistance, including General Leia, Admirals Ackbar and Statura, the elder Major Caluan Ematt, the veteran Sullustian Nien Nunb, joined by Han, Finley, Poe, Snap Wexley, Threepio, and others, all huddled around the map table, which displayed a wireframe hologram model of a rolling view of the surface of Starkiller Base in an urgent and messy strategy session.  
  
"The scan data from Snap's reconnaissance flight confirms Finley's report," Poe said.

"They've somehow created a hyper lightspeed weapon built within the planet itself," reported Snap gravely.

"A laser cannon?" Statura asked.

"We're not sure how to describe a weapon of this scale," Snap replied.

Major Ematt was about Han's age and old thus was old enough to remember the Galactic Civil War. Hell, he even remembered the fall of the Republic.

"It's another Death Star," Ematt lamented. The Empire and their ilk seemed to love their giant doomsday weapons.

"I wish that were the case, Major," Poe sighed, hitting a control on the map table.

"This was the Death Star," explained Poe as a wireframe model of the Death Star appeared.

Poe hit another control -- the Death Star model shrunk --and _shrunk and shrunk_ \-- as the surface area of the Starkiller Base is drawn into a larger image, revealing the entire base planet. The Death Star was a minuscule satellite in comparison.  
  
Poe gestured at the new image. " _This_ is Starkiller Base."

This was news to many here, and they were visibly stunned. Mutters of disbelief echoed throughout the room.

"So it's big," deadpanned Han. This drew a few nervous chuckles from the Resistance.  
  
"How is it possible to power a weapon of this size?" croaked Admiral Ackbar.  
  
"It uses the power of the sun. As the weapon is charged, the sun is drained until it disappears," Finley explained.

"Well, I guess we know why they're calling it "Starkiller," muttered Han.

An officer ran up and handed Leia a datacard.  
  
Leia examined the datacard. "The First Order: they're charging the weapon again, now."

Her heart sunk. "Our system is the next target."  
  
"Oh my," lamented Threepio. "Without the Republic fleet, we're doomed."

The Resistance reacted to this horrible news with terrified whispers and angry shouts.

"Okay, how do we blow it up?" Han asked. All eyes traveled to him. "There's always a way to do that."

But no one had anything. Leia watched the silence,  
frustrated.  
  
"Han's right," Leia finally said.

Han was surprised. That was a first.

"In order for that amount of power to be contained, that base would need some kind of thermal oscillator..." Statura said hesitantly.  
  
"There is one," Finley confirmed.

All eyes were on Finley now as she moved around the hologram to a location on the Starkiller Base hologram, zooming into a giant black hexagonal structure.

"Precinct 47," Finley pointed. "Here."

"If we can destroy that oscillator, it might de-stabilize the core and cripple the weapon," Statura hypothesized.

"... Maybe the planet," added Emmat.

"We'll go in there and we'll hit that oscillator with everything we got!" Poe declared confidently.

"They have defensive shields that our ships cannot penetrate," countered Ackbar pessimistically.

"We disable the shields," suggested Han. He turned to Finley. "Kid, you worked there, what do you got?"  
  
Finley thought for a few moments. "I can do it."  
  
Han nodded his approval. "I like this kid." 

"I can disable the shields," Finley explained. "But I have to be there, on the planet--"  
  
"We'll get you there," Han said automatically.  
  
"Han, how?" asked Leia with the air of a long-suffering wife.  
  
"If I told you, you wouldn't like it," Han replied.  
  
"So we disable the shields, take out the oscillator and we blow up their big gun," Poe recapped. Everyone nodded in agreement. "Well, all right then. Let's go!"

***

The base soon became a bustling hive of activity as the Resistance prepared for their mission. Mechanics made adjustments as grews fueled the jets. Ground controllers directed ships into takeoff formation while pilots like Snap Wexley, Nien Nunb, and Poe Dameron inspected and prepped their crafts.

Finley approached Poe in his orange and white flightsuit as he was waiting for BB-8 to be pulled into Poe's black marked X-Wing by a mechanical arm.

Poe intercepted her. He was his usual suave and confident self, but had an edge of nervousness

"Hey," Poe said, brushing aside Finley's hair. Finley knew where this was going. "I was thinking, if we don't make it... i just wanted to tell you-"

"I care a lot about you too, Poe, but--" interrupted Finley, holding Poe back from coming any closer by putting her hands on his chest. 

"Oh shit! I'm sorry!" Poe apologized, his eyes going wide. "You and Ben Solo?"

Finley shook her head and sighed. "No... I don't know."

Poe was about to say something, but then Finley interrupted again. "Look... everything you've done means a lot to me. It's just that... I've just gotten out of the Order. From a life where I was expected to be just like everyone else. Blindly loyal and obedient. I just need to figure myself out."

Poe nodded and smiled. "I get it. Learn to love yourself before anyone else. I respect that."

"Thanks Poe. For understanding. Again, for everything." Finley smiled back. She gave him a playful shove. "Now go blow shit up!"

Poe laughed as he backed into the ladder of his X-Wing. "Go bring your friend back!"

***

Finley joined Han and Chewie as they prepared the _Millennium_ _Falcon_ for the mission to Starkiller Base, loading supplies and running last minute repairs to ensure nothing catastrophic would happen on a crucial part of the mission, at least on the _Falcon_ 's end.  
  
"Chewie, check that donal capitator. Come on. Let's go," Han ordered. He turned to Finley. "Finn, be careful with those - they're explosives."  
  
"Now you tell me?" Finley asked in exasperation.  
  
"No matter how much we fought, I've always hated watching you leave," said Leia, approaching the departing trio.

"That's why I did it. So you'd miss me," Han grinned, looking decades younger to Leia.

Leia laughed and melted into his open arms. It could have been decades ago, like nothing had changed.

"I did miss you.."Leia murmured into his chest.

"It wasn't all bad, was it? Huh?" Han kissed her forehead. "Some of it was...good."  
  
"... Pretty good," agreed Leia.  
  
'Some things never change,' chuckled Han.

Leia looked up and smiled. Again, like Han, her smile seemed to have a de-aging effect. "True. You still drive me crazy."

Han kissed her, on the lips this time, savoring it and praying quietly that this wasn't a goodbye kiss. They both knew there was chance he wouldn't make it back. The odds weren't in his favor.

But one of Han's golden rules were to never listen to the odds. Served him well this far.

Leia kissed him back and squeezed him tight before reluctantly letting him go. She then placed a hand on his grizzled face before turning back to oversee the departure of her troops.

"Bring our son home."


	15. Starkiller Base

**Starkiller Base, Illum**

The offending trooper, the weak-minded fool JB-007, was found and personally executed by the crimson blade of Kira Ren for his infraction. His death had been recompense, and the Mistress of the Knights of Ren waited in a security room for any report of the escaped prisoner.

A stormtrooper entered the room nervously as Kira stood with her back turned to him, studying the security screens. No trace of Solo.

"FN-9330," Kira greeted icily. "Report."

"M'lady, sensors triggered in hangar 718," the trooper reported. "We're searching the area."

"He's just beginning to recover his powers," Kira replied. "The longer it takes to find him, the more dangerous he becomes."

***

Ben Solo peered around the corner of a corridor, blaster rifle held tight and at the ready.

He wasn't sure where he was going, he was relying on an instinct, an energy that he hadn't consciously used in years: the Force.

Even without the Force, Ben had gotten himself out of sticky situations like this before. He just had to stay alert and ready to defend himself.

He just hoped his dad and Uncle Chewie were okay.

He wondered how Finley was doing...

***

**_Millennium Falcon_ , Lightspeed Space**

With Han and Chewbacca at the helm and Finley at the ready, the _Millennium_ _Falcon_ raced at lightspeed towards Starkiller Base. 

"How are we getting in?" asked Finley. She had been largely quiet up till then, nervous perhaps about the mission, but also about her conflicting feelings about Poe and Ben.

However, the closer they got to the base, the more she realized the importance of focusing on the task at hand.  
  
"Their shields have a fractional refresh rate. Keeps anything traveling slower than lightspeed from getting through," Han replied.

Finn was suddenly filled with more dread than she had coming in. "We're gonna make our landing approach at lightspeed?!"

Chewie thought it was crazy too, but he was used to Han's brand of crazy. He moan-talked reply that had Han chuckling before he turned deadly serious.  
  
Han's eyebrows knit. "Alright, Chewie, get ready."

Chewie groaned that he was ready. Together they studied the panel indicators. 

"And NOW!" Chewie and Han hit switches and the Falcon's enenvironment shifted instantly from lightspeed Space to planet atmosphere. The found themselves suddenly flying one hundred feet above the snowy, rocky ground, headed for a thick forest! 

At the co-pilot's seat, Chewie groaned nervously.  
  
"I AM PULLING UP!!!" roared Han, desperately handling the controls. 

But the _Falcon_ has no time to maneuver, and it plowed through the trees before rising upa little at the last second, avoiding the ground.

Alarms blared as the ship slammed through the tree branches, shooting towards the sky.

Chewie roared as Han does his best to steer, causing Han to yell "I get any higher, they'll see us!"

With that, the ship dived again, back into the trees slicing through the forest until it hurtled out of the forest and into a clearing, slamming into the snow with an eruption of branches and pine.

The Falcon dug through a thousand yards if white until it finally came to a canted stop, half buried in the snow.

***

**Starkiller Base, Illum**

"M'lady, he was not found in hangar 718, but all troops are on alert," an officer reported nervously.

Everyone had been on edge since Ren's prisoner had escaped the hour before. Considering she had completely destroyed the Interrogation Chamber and executed whomever brought her bad news since then, he had every right to be nervous.

"Put every hangar on lock-down. He's going to try to steal a ship to escape!" ordered Kira after a tense moment. "I want troopers scouring every inch of this base!"

The officer breathed a sigh of relief and saluted. "It will be done, M'lady!"

***  
Han, Finley and Chewbacca crossed the snowy terrai, taking cover behind a base structure. Chewie carried a black duffel bag of explosives, glancing at the AT-AT walkers in the horizon.  
  
"The flooding tunnels are over that ridge," Finley gestured. "We'll get in that way."  
  
"What was your job when you were based here?" asked Han.  
  
"Sanitation," Finley replied simply.  
  
"Sanitation?" Han replied incredulously. "Then how do you know how to disable the shields?"  
  
"I don't," Finley admitted. "I'm just here to get Ben."  
  
"There's no one who wants Ben back more than I do, but people are counting on us! The galaxy is counting on us--!" Han exclaimed.  
  
"We'll figure it out!" assured Finley. "We'll use the Force!"  
  
"That's not how the Force works--!" growled Han, becoming increasingly agitated.

Chewie moan-talked a lament.  
  
Han whipped around to Chewie. "Oh really, you're cold?"  
  
"Come on!" Finley shouted, prompting the old smugglers to follow her along the snowy hike

Chewie growled.

"You said it, Chewie," Han replied, and trudged up after the former stormtrooper.

***

Inside the Starkiller Base control room, General Hux watched through the window with immense satisfaction as the laser siphon sucked the sun dry of energy.

"Report," Hux demanded of an officer.  
  
"Weapon charged in fifteen minutes, sir," the officer replied.

Hux smiled. Everything was going according to plan.

***

FN-9330 waited to board a Transport Compartment on the way to Hangar 718. The door whooshed open, and inside he found a very angry Wookiee pointing a bowcaster at his chest.

He barely had time to fumble for his blaster before the Wookiee shot him dead, his armored body flying back across the corridor.  
  
The Wookiee Chewbacca dragged FN-9330 out of sight as his companions Han and Finley peered around a corner, wary.

"The longer we're here, less luck we're going to have," Han warned. He glanced at Finley. "The shields?"  
  
"I have an idea about that," Finley gestured for the two to follow her.

They did, and they waited along a corridor a little ways down until they saw who Finley was referring to.  
  
Captain Phasma, sauntering down an adjacent hallway.

Chewie T-boned the unsuspecting Phasma hard and fast and then dragged the stormtrooper captain's stunned body to the narrow cross-corridor where Han and Finley were waiting.

The Wookiee held his long, strong limbs around Phasma, forcing her to face Finley, her former subordinate, who held a blaster at the unarmored space of her neck.  
  
"Remember me?" gloated Finley.

"FN-2187," hissed Phasma.

"Not anymore," declared Finley. "The name's Finley, and I'm in charge. I'm in charge now, Phasma. I'm the head bitch now!"

"Bring it down. Bring it down," muttered Han.  
  
Finley grinned and jerked her head to Chewie. "Follow me."

***  
Ben ran down a long, glossy hall, taking cover in an alcove, blaster rifle ever ready.

From this alcove, he could see down another long perpendicular walkway. On one side, a stone and steel wall, the other a vast atrium with a railing-free drop off, the white pill-light design descending hundreds of feet.

At the end of the walkway, Ben saw an open hangar door revealing dozens and dozens of TIE Fightrrs parked outside.

Ben considered. His plan was pretty straightforward. But the problem: between him and the ship he wanted to steal, was a group of stormtroopers. Guards, in conversation.

To compound the problem, Ben could sense that far behind him in the perpendicular hall that another group of stormtroopers were headed his way.

Engaging with them would be suicide. He peered over the edge of the vast atrium. No choice.

Time to play Wookiee.

He ran fast across the walkway, and climbed down, his large fingertips disappearing over the edge just as the troopers approach and continue, not seeing him .  
  
Ben sighed. Thank the Force for all those climbing lessons his Uncle Chewie gave him when he was younger.

He saw a barely visible service hatch and had an idea. He strenuously cross-climbed to the hatch and opened it, climbing inside the wall, closing the hatch  
behind him.

It was a tight fit for the tall Ben, but he was able to climb amid the incredible infrastructure, a drop to infinity beneath him. He was between the light source and the white pill shapes as he made his way across, beyond the sight of the stormtrooper guards above the drop off into the atrium. 

***  
Finley led them into a workstation and Phasma reluctantly got to work on a computer console as Finley, Chewie, and Han trained their blasters on Phasma's helmeted head.  
  
"You want me to blast that bucket off your head?" threatened Finley. "Lower the damn shields!"  
  
"You're making a big mistake," Phasma said calmly, but with an edge of malice.  
  
"Do it," ordered Finley.

Chewie growled at Phasma, and the captain hastily hit a few more buttons. The controls BEEP-CLICK. "SHIELDS DISABLE INITIATE".   
  
"Han, if this works, we're not going to have a lot of time to find Ben," Finley pointed out.  
  
"Don't worry kid, we definitely won't leave here without him," assured Han.

Another button. The controls BEEP-CLICK. "SHIELDS DISABLED".  
  
"You can't be so stupid as to think this will be easy," sneered Phasma. "My troops will storm this block and kill you all."  
  
"Well, _bitch_ , I disagree," Finley sneered back. She muttered to Han. "What do we do with her?"

"Is there a garbage chute?" Han grinned. "Trash compactor?"  
  
A Chesire smile crossed Finley's face as she glanced sideways at Phasma.

"Yeah, _there is_..."


	16. The Battle of Starkiller Base

**Control Room, Resistance Base, D'Qar**

The Resistance Base on D'Qar was abuzz with tension and activity during the wait for Han, Chewbacca, and Finley to arrive at Starkiller to complete their mission.

Officers were hard at work on their computer consoles, overlapped by the Resistance high command at their shoulders, grave and urgent.

Eventually, when frayed nerves had reached their apex, an officer called out "General, their shields  
are down!"  
  
"Thank the Maker!" Threepio cried.

"Han did it!" Leia breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to Statura. "Send them in!"  
  
Statura nodded. "Give Poe full authorization to attack."  
  
The officer spoke into his communications headset. "Black Leader, go to sub-lights. On your call."  
  
At lightspeed, Poe Dameron led his squadron of X-Wings for the attack on Starkiller Base.  
  
"Roger, base," Poe replied. Red Squad, Blue Squad, take my lead."

Acknowledgments flooded Poe's radio as Poe flicked switches.  
  
<Dropping out of lightspeed.> Jessika Pava announced.  
  
The X-Winds popped out of lightspeed and roared towards the Starkiller Base planet, dropping from the sky in formation to strike the hexagonal Oscillator structure in the distance.  
  
The squadron of X-wings swiftly dive bombed the Oscillator, the Black Leader Poe leading.

"Almost in range!" called Poe. "Hit the target dead center, as many runs as we can get!"

<Approaching target.> reported Snap Wexley.

From the large windows of the Starkiller Base control room, large explosions could be seen atop the distant Oscillator.

With alarms blaring in his ears, General Hux observed the damage and turned sharply to a First Order officer. "Dispatch all squadrons!"  
  
"Let's light it up!" Poe ordered from his X-Wing.

The X-Wings divebombed the Oscillator again, hitting it dead center in quick succession.  
  
<Direct hit!> Pilot Lieutenant Bastian shouted.  
  
<But no damage!> cried Jessika, her face falling.

"Yeah, we gotta keep hitting it! Another bombing run! Remember, when that sun is gone, that weapon will  
be ready to fire!" Poe reminded them. "But as long as there's light, we got a chance!"

BB-8, riding in the back of Poe's X-wing, beeped out an urgent alarm.

Poe looked out of his cockpit. Dozens of TIE Fighters!

"Guys, we got a lot of company!"

***

Deep inside the base, but not out of danger, Finley, Han, and Chewbacca took cover as Chewie pulled some explosives out of the duffel to blow out nearby blast doors.  
  
"We'll use the charges to blow that blast door," Finley explained. "I'll go in and draw fire, but I'm gonna need cover."  
  
"You sure you're up for this?" asked Han.  
  
"Hell no!" grinned Finley darkly. She improvised fast. "The troopers'll be on our tail. We have to be ready for that. There's an access tunnel that'll leads --"

Han smiled and started to point with his chin to something behind Finley.

"Why are you doing that?" Finley demanded incredulously. "Why are you doing -- this? I'm trying to come up with a plan."

Annoyed, Finley turned to the direction they were nodding at. She had to stifle a shriek of surprise as she saw Ben climbing out from inside the wall and back up to the main level. She couldn't believe it!

Chewie murmured his relief and patted Han on the back. Ben was alive.

Ben climbed up to the corridor, vigilant. He heard a sound, and swooped his rifle up, ready to fire at... Han, Finley, and Chewie!

"Dad!" Father and son embraced, reunited.

Chewie ruffled Ben's hair, murmuring his gratitude.

"Great to see you, too, Uncle Chewie," Ben grinned.

"Are you all right, son?" Han asked, gripping Ben's shoulder, eyeing him up and down for signs of injury.  
  
Ben nodded. "Yeah."  
  
"Good," Han sighed, relieved.  
  
"What happened -- did she hurt you?" Finley asked, concerned.

Ben turned to Finley, beaming at her as if he saw her for the first time.

"Finley... you came back," Ben held his arms out for a hug.

"Repaying the favor," Finley replied, hugging him. "From Jakku."  
  
Ben squeezed her tight. "Thank you."  
  
"How did you get away?" Finley asked, looking up at him.  
  
"I asked nicely," Ben said with a wink to his father.  
  
Han's eyes went wide. He hadn't done _that_ in years. Coulda' came in handy dozens of times over the past years. _What_ happened to him here for him to do _that_ again?

Han's musings were interrupted by a low warning growl from Chewbacca.

"He's right," Han agreed. "Escape now. Hug later."

***  
  
Meanwhile, outside the base, the Resistance X-Wings were locked in a vicious aerial dogfight with the First Order TIE Fighters high above the surface of the snowy planet.

The ships screamed past each other, firing, dodging and weaving. Poe's fighter maneuvered through the melee, nearly colliding with a close- passing TIE Fighter.

"Shit!" snapped Poe, spinning to avoid the TIE. "How's everyone managing out there?!"  
  
<I got one behind me!> Snap yelled. <See it?>  
  
<Yeah, I'm on it!> Jessika replied.

Suddenly, a heavy cannon emplacement from the base launched a missile that shedded a X-Wing fighter in front of her.  
  
<Furillo's been hit!> Jessika cried, banking around to avoid another incoming missile.  
  
<Watch out for ground fire!> Snap warned, dodging the TIE behind him as the AT-ATs on the ground were activated, joining the TIE Fighters in the fray against the outmatched X-Wings.

"Just hang on for a while longer, guys!" Poe encouraged. "We can do this!"

Far below, Han, Ben, Finley and Chewbacca ran out of the base and into the snowy landscape, stopping to watch the desperate battle as it unfolded.

"They're in trouble. We can't leave," Ben declared, resolve in his eyes.

Han turned to his son. "Your Uncle Chewie here has a bag full of explosives. Let's use 'em."

***  
 **Resistance Base, D'Qar**

"General, are you seeing this?" Connix turned to Leia, a look of grave concern as she followed the unfolding battle on her computer console.  
  
"Two more X-wings down," sighed Leia as she studied the screen. "That's half our fleet destroyed."  
  
"And their weapon will be fully charged in ten minutes!" lamented Threepio. "It would take a miracle to save us now."

***

**Starkiller Base, Illum**

Han and Chewie arrived at the oscillator structure to find three security stormtroopers approaching a maintenance hatch. Instantly, Chewie took out the middle one with his bowcaster. Han and the other two stormtroopers opened fire, but Han's aim was true, and the troopers were taken out.

Running inside from a parked snowspeeder, Ben opened a service hatch. Finley was close behind him, and Ben reached inside, yanking a piece of tech from the machinery, opening the service hatch where Han and Chewie stood.

Han and Chewie stepped inside, weapons poised.

Chewie murmured happily, nudging Han on the arm.  
  
"That's my boy," Han said proudly.  
  
Once inside, the two divided the explosives, talking in hushed tones.  
  
"We'll set the charges at every other column," Han instructed.

Chewie moan-talked a reply to Han, who looked around, reconsidering.

"You're right. That's a better idea," Han decided, checking his detonator. "You take the top."

Chewie moaned and nodded, taking his own detonator.

"I'll go down below," Han said, heading off in the opposite direction. "We'll meet back here."

The two wasted no time in placing their explosives. Han checked if he was all-clear and hurried down to the next level as Chewie climbed up a level.

Just outside the Oscillator chamber, a squad of stormtroopers snapped to attention as Kira Ren approached. 

"M'lady!"

"Troopers!" Kira addressed imperiously. "The prisoner's fellow fugitives have infiltrated the base! They have disabled the shields and likely are trying to sabotage the Oscillator that you are so lazily guarding."

The troopers shifted uncomfortably.

" _Well_...?" Kira glanced at the chamber and the troopers hurried to open it.

Without hesitation, Kira walked into the colossal cylindrical structure of the Oscillator, turning into a dark corridor.

Kira came to a sudden stop and scanned the structure, sensing a presence.

"Split up," Kira ordered. "Six with me. The rest: fan out and find them."

Kira and her group went below, and the others swiftly moved up the ramp, weapons ready, checking carefully where blind corners intersected from the perimeter.

They came round to the next higher level and passed Chewie in the shadows of the grillwork, who was planting a charge.

At over seven feet tall, Chewie was hard to miss. He could take them out with his bowcaster, but doing so would give away his position. He hardly breathed, his large fingers tickling the trigger of his weapon.

"All clear," reported the trooper, and they continued on.

Once they were gone, Chewie breathed and planted another charge.

***

Outside in the freezing cold outside the main structure of the base-- a cold that was growing ever more bitter as the Oscillator drained the sun-- Ben and Finley raced on their Snowspeeder to set their corresponding explosive charges.

Ben looked up, and the Snowspeeder came to a stop outside the structure as the two looked to the sky.

The sun was nearly gone. Time was quickly running out. They would have to hurry.

***

Han finished setting a charge on the lower level of the Oscillator and was about to move on when he heard something and concealed himself behind a wide, vertical support. He peaked around the edge, and saw Kira Ren appear, stopping at the railing, looking down into the filter.   
  
Kira picked her head up, and moved directly  
toward where Han was hiding. Kira had an increasing sense of Han's presence as she moved closer.

A presence that was so much like Ben's.

She came to where Han was hiding -- but Han was nowhere to be seen.

Kira scoffed, and from his hiding place in a narrow power chamber in the wall, Han watched as Kira Ren and an escort of six stormtroopers crossed the space just feet in front of him, much more impatiently than moments before.

Han then shifted his position in the tight compartment so he could watch Kira's progress. Kira turned onto a flat catwalk that bisected the open space.

Unaware of Han's presence, Kira and her six man trooper escort walked purposefully across the long catwalk to the opposite side, blasters aimed and ready.

Han watched as Kira Ren and her escort of troopers walked off, the CLANK-CLANK of their boots receding. 

This was Han's opportunity to escape, but his foot kicked some random metal riff-raff that had been probably left there by a careless technician or sanitation worker like Finley used to be.

The noise echoed as Kira Ren stopped, far across the vast catwalk. She halted her escorts and turned.

Ben and Finley heard the noise echo faintly as they made their way back into the structure atop a balcony, opening a hatch that allowed a beam of precious sunlight to stream down like a spotlight on Kira and his troopers.

Kira and her troopers looked up, and Han took the opportunity of their distraction to open fire at Kira and the troopers.

Han took one trooper out with a direct hit, but his second blast was deflected by a lightning-quick draw of Kira's red lightsaber.

Atop the balcony, Ben and Finley joined Han in opening fire on Kira and the troopers as they fired back, using the railing for limited cover and to aim.

They were successful in taking out most of Kira's troopers, but Kira managed to deflect every blast aimed at her.

Troopers at the perimeter were alerted to the altercation and rushed to intervene, but Chewbacca rushed in to join Ben and Finley, sniping the outliers with his bowcaster. It was becoming an even matchup as the stormtrooper's numbers slowly dwindled from the Resistance's precision shooting.

Han focused his blasts at Kira Ren as the others focused on the troopers. Despite Han's expert marksmanship, Kira deflected every blast, batting one back at him that hit him in his gun shoulder.

Han cried out in pain and was stunned, dropping his blaster.

Up above, Ben's mouth opened in a silent scream as the inevitable unfolded, to swift for anyone to stop.

Within an instant, a stormtrooper raised his blaster rifle and pointed it at Han's heart, pulling the trigger.

Han Solo fell, dead instantly. Lightyears away, Leia Organa felt her husband's life slip away. Just a story or two above Han's body, so did their son.

"NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" screamed Ben.

Kira felt Ben's pain through the Force. It gave her pause, but she made herself shake it off. She could not lose sight of her mission.

"RRRRAAARRRRWWWWWGGGGHHHH!!!!!" Chewbacca let out a cry of anguish fired a bowcaster bolt that sent Han's killer flying from the catwalk as Kira looked on in shock, her trooper escorts dead around her. She readied her saber. Surrender was not an option. Reinforcements would come.

Ben fired down upon her, but she continued to swiftly deflect his errant blasts as she pushed forward.

So unfortunate, that the elder Solo had to die. Rage and turmoil rolled off the younger in waves, but he could not focus them, use them to his advantage. It made him sloppy. That would be her advantage.

"NNNNOOOOO!" screamed Ben.

"Ben! Ben!" cried Finley. "We have to go now! There are more incoming!"

The stormtrooper reinforcements fired a volley at them, forcing them to retreat.

Chewbacca pushed the button of the explosive remote, which trigger ONE, then TWO, then FOUR, then SIX explosions that rocked the structure, caving the walls in and collapsing catwalks.

Kira stumbled. She glared up at the retreating Resistance. Behind her, the incoming stormtroopers began to fire at them.

Her eyes met Ben's before he disappeared through the doorway, urged on by his traitorous friend. 

He _will_ be her's.

***

 **Control Room, Resistance Base, D'Qar**

The Resistance high command watched the computer readouts with rapt attention as the battle information came to them live at lightspeed.

The battle was not favoring the Resistance Squadron thus far. Complicating matters, there was no word from Han Solo's team since the planetary shield was deactivated.

Tensions were higher than ever. Even the usually unflappable General Leia was distracted.

"The Oscillator's been damaged but is still functional!" grumbled the old Mon Calamari Admiral Ackbar.

Commodore Meta slammed his fist on the console as General Leia stared ahead, stonefaced and silent.

"Admiral, their weapon will fire in two minutes," Officer Tabala Zo reported.

Ackbar stared at the console readouts gravely. "May the Force be with us."


	17. The Duel

**Starkiller Base, Illum.**

"The _Falco_ n's this way!" Finley yelled to a distraught Ben as they raced from the blazing and fractured Oscillator and over the rising of a snowy forest.

_FLASH!_

_A rush of trees! The temple was burning! He had to hurry!_

_Rey._

_Tai._

_His Uncle Luke._

_His fellow padawans._

_Their lives depended on him!_

_FLASH!_

They ran and ran until they came to a still figure amidst the gusts of wind and snow.

They skidded to a stop. The figure moved, and a ignited the crimson beam of a lightsaber.

Standing thirty feet away from them, was Kira Ren.

Nowhere to run!

"We're not done yet!" Kira hissed.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Ben raised his stormtrooper rifle at Kira, his finger on the trigger.

But his delay was long enough for Kira to react with a raised hand, paralyzing him with the Force like their reunion in the forests of Takodana.

"You never learn," Kira snarled. She gestured powerfully, sending the rifle flying out of Ben's hand. With another gesture, Kira sent Ben flying towards a tree with a sickening thud. Ben dropped, landing hard in the snow, dazed and hurt.

"Ben! Ben! Ben... Ben... Oh no. Oh no no no... " cried Finley, afraid and concerned for Ben.

But the sound of Kira Ren's lightsaber moving makes Finley turn back to Kira, lit by the glowing yellow and red blade.

"How many of your loved ones must die for you to accept your destiny, Ben Solo?" Kira taunted, twirling her lightsaber. "Our brothers and sisters from the temple... your father..."

Ben stirred in response, groaning in pain.

Kira poised, pointing her lightsaber at Finley. "... and now... your little girlfriend!"

Finley's fear gave way to a righteous anger. She snarled and drew the Skywalker saber, igniting the blue blade. "Come get some, bitch!"

Kira's lip curled. In the blink of an eye, Kira lunged forward. Finley barely had time to block. It took all of Finley's strength to push her back and rebuke with a strike of her own, which Kira almost effortlessly blocked.

Finley held her own through sheer tenacity and athleticism, but it soon became clear that the trained Force sensitive Dark Side warrior was _playing_ with her.

Kira saw Ben stirring in the corner of her eye. She sideswiped a well-aimed strike from Finley and landed an upward strike to Finley's back.

Finley collapsed to the ground, unconcious, her back smoking and reeking of burnt flesh.

Kira paced around her like a savage animal, a murderous glare in her eyes.

"HE'S MINE, TRAITOR!" Kira shrieked. "WATCH AS I DESTROY HER, BEN! WATCH!"

With her red blade lit, she held out her other hand to summon the Skywalker saber that had dropped from Finley's hand.

The lightsaber vibrated in the snow. Kira scowled, and increased her Force power. With a gesture, the lightsaber finally flew out of the snow, bulleting towards Kira... and then past her.

Kira whipped around to see the lightsaber soar into the hands of Ben, who stood facing her, eyes blazing with a quiet rage and determination.

Ben closed his eyes and ignited the lightsaber. His eyes shot open, and he shifted to a fighting stance, holding the saber in both hands.

Kira grinned, and attacked!

She aimed a strike, and Ben parried.

Kira aimed another strike, and Ben answered with another parry.

Another fast strike, an even faster parry.

Before she could strike again, Ben answered with an onslaught of powerful blows that Kira could just barely block in time, one after the other.

Kira backpedaled, wordless. His skill with the blade had not diminished after all these years.

Stonefaced, Kira put her right foot in front of her in a warrior's pose, her lightsaber held horizontal.

A second red blade erupted from the other end of the long lightsaber, and Kira took it in both hands and twirled it like a staff.

She lunged!

***

Things were looking bleak for Poe Dameron and his Resistance Squadron, as they were being swarmed by the First Order's deadly TIE Fighters, obstructing their path to further damage the Oscillator structure. 

<We just lost R-1!> cursed Snap.  
  
<We're overwhelmed! What do we do?> Jessika cried in frustration. <It isn't working!>

<Black Leader, there's a brand new hole in that Oscillator!> Pilot Yolo Ziff announced, noticing the explosion from the Oscillator structure. <Looks like  
our friends got in!>

"Red Four! Red Six! Cover us!" ordered Poe.  
  
<I'm on it!> Lieutenant Bastian replied.  
  
<Roger!> the gray-skinned Abednedo pilot Ello Asty confirmed.  
  
"Everybody else, hit the target hard!" Poe declared. "Give it everything you got!"

As the X-Wings dived and blast the weakened Oscillator, another two X-wings -- including Poe's -- soared through the trench leading to the oscillator structure.  
  
"I need some help here!" cried Poe. "I need some help!"  
  
<I'm coming in!> Bastian shouted.  
  
<Watch out!> warned Jessika

<I'm hit-- AHHH!! _BZZT!!!! >_ screamed Ello Atsy as his X-Wing was blown to pieces.

"Damn it!" cursed Poe. "All teams: I'm going in! Pull up and cover me!"  
  
<Copy that, Black Leader! Good luck, Poe!> Pilot Niv Lek replied, peeling off with the other trailing X-wings as Poe's black fighter darts into the fiery breach

***

Inside the Starkiller Base Control Room, a Starkiller technician reported "Weapon at full capacity in thirty  
seconds!"  
  
General Hux smiled at the growing darkness outside. "Prepare to fire."

***

Poe's X-Wing weaved through the breach created by Chewbacca's bombs, pursued closely by a TIE fighter.

The TIE held its fire, as to not further damage the Oscillator's interior. Perhaps the pilot hoped that Poe would crash and burn before he reached the structure.

Not likely.

Poe gritted his teeth and pressed on. By some miracle, his pursuer didn't clear the gap and crashed and burned instead, leaving Poe to circle the interior of the unguarded structure, firing volley after volley of torpedoes.

The remaining X-Wings tore off from their TIE attackers and blasted what remained of the Oscillator. The blasts created a fiery chain reaction throughout the structure, cratering it deep underground. AT-ATs fell like prehistoric beasts into massive fissures, and TIEs fled like terrified birds, closely pursued by the victorious Resistance Squadron.

***

Amid the bare white trees, only the glow of Ben Solo's azure-hued family lightsaber and Kira Ren's crimson saberstaff illuminated the blistering flurries of snow as they battled hard.

Ben kept pace with the dual-bladed rush, but was largely on the defensive, parrying and dodging low and high from the deady ends.

Suddenly, a colossal chunk of the forest right behind Ben dropped away, causing him to lose his footing and allow Kira to push him to the edge of the new cliff with a flurry of strikes.

Ben blocked a heavy blow with her topmost blade, holding it back with brute strength, digging the bottom blade into the snow as he pushed.

"Stop fighting it!" screamed Kira, sparks and steam from the vaporizing snow spitting in her face. "Give into it! Give into the Dark Side of the Force!"

"NO!" Ben roared. He gave her a powerful final push, driving her back hard, causing her to drop her double-bladed saber. As she stumbled, Ben drove forward with his free hand, sending her tumbling end over end with a Force Push.

Ben stalked towards her, readying his next strike.

Enraged, Kira shot up from the snow and held her hand out, recalling her saber. With both hands she held the saber out, igniting both blades. Then, with a small hiss of vapor, Kira twisted the hilt and pulled them apart, separating the double-ended lightsaber into a pair of twin lightsabers!

With her twin blades pointed backwards, Kira narrowed her eyes and assumed a runner's stance, gathering her power. She shot forward, pirouetting at the last moment to slash at Ben with blinding speed.

Kira was a hurricane, impossibly fast and incredibly strong, her pounding blows so furious that Ben fell back, unable to keep up.

She aimed a kick at his sternum, taking him down. Ben staggered up again, but she hit his saber's hilt, knocking it out of his hand with a downward strike of her left blade.

As he reached for it, Kira gave Ben an upward swipe with her right blade, hitting Ben square in the head and chest, slicing a part of the collar off his jacket. He staggered and fell to his knees, a large burn scar slashed across his face.

He still wearily reached for his lightsaber, defiant till the end. His hand closed around the hilt of his family's saber.

Kira stood over him, twin blades poised. She could kill him -- right now, with one vicious strike!

For what felt like an eternity condensed in a single moment, the two locked eyes. Suddenly, the earth below them shook violently and then split, forming a gully between them.

Ben staggered to his feet, watching with a pounding skull as Kira screamed in rage the farther away the cataclysm took her away from him.

"SSSSSOOOOOLLLLLLOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

***

"Supreme Leader," Hux stood before Snoke's flickering image deep within the assembly room. Hux tried to keep his composure, but the distant explosions of the base's destruction and the planet's irreversable cataclysm gave him pause, and instilled a strong sense of self-preservation that not even Snoke's presence could allay. "The fuel cells have ruptured. The collapse of the planet has begun."

Snoke's hologram glared at him.

"Leave the base at once and come to me with Kira Ren," Snoke ordered with a calm fury. "It is time to complete her training."

***

Ben staggered and loped through the forest, far, far away from Kira's howls of rage until he at last found Finley, who lied near death, not far from where the ground fell away. Ben fell heavily to his knees before her, turning her over. The wound was cauterized, but possibly fatal.

"Finley! Finley!" moaned Ben. She was unresponsive.

Tears came to his eyes, as he lifted her, holding her lifeless body in his arms. Snow flurried around them as he broke down and cried, his tears searing the burn scar as they fell, holding this girl who he just met, who he already cared so much for. 

They were left here to die in the ice cold as the planet collapsed, the trees falling all around them like dominoes.

And just as it seemed like all was lost, Ben looked up to see lights rise from the newly formed canyon: the _Millennium Falcon_!

The lights illuminated Ben's scarred face, damaged but filled with hope. 

The ship landed, and Chewbacca hurried out to help them.

"Take her," croaked Ben as the Wookiee scooped Finley up. "I can manage."

As Chewie carried Finley up the ramp, Ben chanced a look back to the dying planet before joining them inside.

He didn't know if Kira Ren was going to make it out of the cataclysm, but he believed she would. It wasn't over between them, he knew that much. Not by a long shot. 

The _Falcon_ raced off, aiming to leave the collapsing planet behind, joined quickly by the Resistance X-wings, led by Poe.

<All teams! I got eyes on them!> called Poe.

<Yes!> cheered Snap.

They roared off, skyward as the planet imploded. The sunlight it contained burst forth, the rebirth of a sun. Light restored to a corner of the galaxy.

The _Millennium Falcon_ and the X-Wings ripped through space and into lightspeed, heading home.  
  
<Our job's done here,> Poe's voice echoed through the Resistance's raucous and celebratory transmissions. <Let's go home!>


	18. Celebration and Mourning

**Resistance Base, D'Qar**

The surviving Resistance X-Wings arrived first, touching down on the base just as the _Millennium Falcon_ dropped out of hyperspace behind them.

Officers filed out first to greet them, celebrating with Poe and his pilots as the _Falcon_ touched down on an empty spot on the landing strip.

The _Falcon_ door opened and the ramp dropped, revealing Chewie with an unconscious Finley in his large, hairy arms.

Poe cried out in anguish as Jessika, Snap, and the other surviving pilots held him back and hugged him as the medics arrived with a hover-gurney, allowing Chewie to gently deposit her on the padded metal slab.  
  
"Easy, easy. She's hurt," the medic said urgently. "We've got a heartbeat."

Leia hurried out of the base to meet them, to see the survivors, to see if her son, if Chewie was among them.

Chewbacca was the first she saw. She buried herself in his shaggy fur, and the Wookiee told her that Ben was alive.

Leia let lose the dam of emotion that she held back for the sake of the mission, for the sake of being a leader. She cried tears of sadness for Han, and tears of joy that her son was back.

Ben gingerly walked down the ramp, looking around for familiar faces among the growing crowd, parting to allow the injured to file through.

Leia saw him as she peeked around Chewie's great arm. She gasped at his scar and battle worn clothes, swallowing her tears. She needed to be strong for him. He needed her to be strong for him.

She looked up at Chewie, and the Wookiee wordlessly stepped aside and allowed her to approach the son she hadn't seen for almost half a decade.

Threepio and BB-8 approached behind Chewie to see Ben for themselves. BB-8 beeped in concern.

"Master Ben..." sighed Threepio.

Mother and son stared at each other for a few moments, and then Ben pulled Leia tight.

He dwarfed her, but he seemed to shrink into her as he clutched at her clothes, and screamed into her shoulder, wishing desperately that his father was there with them, wishing that they could reunite as a family, as a whole family in joy, not a broken one in sadness.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." Ben kept repeating, a mantra.

"There's nothing to be sorry about, Ben," Leia choked, stroking his hair.

"I couldn't save him, Mom," Ben sobbed. "I wasn't strong enough. I wasn't --"

"Ben," Leia said firmly.

"It's all my fault!" cried Ben. "If I didn't get captured, if I didn't run away! If--"

Leia took his face in her hands and forced him to look at her, shaking him. "Listen! Listen to me!" 

Ben flinched, clenching his jaw.

"Listen to me, Ben," Leia said firmly, boring into his eyes. She was gently feeling his thoughts through the Force. "You did everything you could. Your father loved you. And he knew you loved him."

"It hurts," Ben choked.

Leia rested his head back on her shoulder. "Yes. Yes it does. But I'm here. I'm here, baby. I'm here..."

***

A hush of mourning fell over the base, the thrill of their half-victory all but forgotten as the dead were counted and the realization that the mission of finding the map to Luke Skywalker had hit a major roadblock.

Threepio waddled around from mourner to mourner with inquiries of how he may be of assistance, driven by his programming to serve as a protocol droid, but no one payed him any mind.

Defeated, he went over to the corner R2-D2 sat, himself feeling an odd sense of loss and longing.

As BB-8 approached R2-D2, the long dormant droid suddenly stirred. The droids beeped at each other, much to Threepio's surprise.

"R2-D2! You've come back! You found what? How dare you call me that!" Threepio cried, swatting Artoo, who continued to beep at him. "Find Master Luke how? Come, Artoo! We must go tell the others at once!"

***

In the Control Room, Leia stood in Ben's arms with Chewbacca nearby, in silence and heartbroken. Leia would be expected to delegate their next step. Uncharacteristically, Leia had no idea of what the next step would be.   
  
"General?" Threepio said, entering the room. "Excuse me, General?"

Leia broke away from Ben and turned to see the droids.  
  
"R2-D2 may contain some much needed good news," Threepio explained.

Leia sighed. "Tell me."

Poe, BB-8 and a handful of Resistance officers joined them.

Suddenly, Artoo projected a hologram of a large navigational map with the missing piece!

BB-8 beeped urgently, knudging Poe's leg.

"Yeah, all right buddy, hold on!" Poe said, kneeling down to remove the ancient data device that Lor San Tekka had given him from a base computer. He inserted it back inside BB-8, who then projected its portion of the map, which it then shrunk down to size.

The two droids moved slightly together, and the two holograms united, with BB-8's peice filling in Artoo's peice perfectly.

"Oh! The map!" exclaimed Threepio. "It is complete!"  
  
Leia put her hand on her heart, and Ben squeezed her shoulder. "Luke..."

Suddenly, there were cheers and embraces. A new sense of hope and optimism parted the dark clouds of gloom. The lost would not have died in vain.

"I'll go," Ben said quietly, just so Leia could hear. "I can't run away from this anymore."

Leia caressed her son's face, smiling sadly. She just barely said hello, and now she must say goodbye again. But she had no choice. Ben himself knew this. 

"But there's a few things I gotta do first," Ben added.

Leia nodded. "Of course. Take all the time you need."

Ben nodded and left, patting Chewbacca on the arm. Chewie glanced at Leia and followed.

As Leia joined in the celebration, Threepio leaned down to Artoo and said quietly, "Oh my dear friend. How I've missed you."

***

The next day, before Ben prepared to leave in his search for Luke, Ben came to visit Finley in her ICU pod in the infirmary.

Chewbacca was still there. The two had bonded when Finley had taken care of his blaster wound, and he had barely left her side since Ben left the night before to be with his mother.

When Chewie saw him come in, the Wookiee said that he would leave the two alone as he prepped the _Falcon_.

Ben nodded and sat with Finley in silence for a while, replaying the battle between her and Kira Ren, blaming himself for her condition. Blaming himself for his inability to prevent the attack. 

Finally, Ben leaned in close to her, brushing aside an errant lock of hair. He kissed her forehead, and his lips lingered for a moment before he stands, quietly saying, despite his fear: "We'll see each other again. I believe that. And I won't fail you ever again."

Ben headed for the door. He had one last person to say goodbye to, and hopefully not for long.

***

As Chewie did last minute checks on the _Falcon_ after saying his goodbyes to Leia, Ben was saying his own goodbyes. There was a renewed sense of purpose permeating the base, and the two stood amidst the hustle and bustle in each other's arms, their foreheads touching, eyes closed. There were not many words that could be said that their connection through the Force, that their connection as mother and son, couldn't say already.

But that had never stopped them before. It was always nice to hear it for themselves.

Leia opened her eyes and took Ben's face in her hands, caressing his scar with her thumb.

"I love you, Ben."

Ben smiled, a smirk like his father.

"I know."

Leia smiled back and gave him a good natured tap on the cheek and ruffled his hair.

Ben laughed.

Leia straightened out his jacket: an old one of his father's. What stories that jacket could tell! Not even carbonite freezing had diminished it's quality.

"Go," Leia kissed him on his forehead and jerked her head to the _Falcon_. "May the Force be with you."

Ben nodded and then turned to head to the _Falcon_. As Ben walked off, he heard Leia call out: "Ben!"

Ben turned around to face his mother.

"Give Luke a kick in the ass from me, okay?" Leia grinned.

Ben smiled and crossed to the _Falcon_ , heading to the bridge where Chewie and Artoo were waiting for him.

Ben headed for the co-pilot's seat, but Chewie stopped him with a large, hairy arm on his shoulder. He grunted and pointed to the pilot's seat.

"Yeah?" Ben swallowed, overcome with another rush of emotion.

Chewie nodded, speaking in Shyriiwrook, the Wookiee language. "This is your ship now."

Ben embraced him, and a flash of gold caught his eye. His father's lucky dice, hanging on the dashboard.

Ben caressed the dice, choking back another wave of tears. "I hope I can do you proud, Dad."

Chewie squeezed his shoulder. "You will."

Artoo beeped in agreement.

Ben sat down in the pilot's seat. So much had changed since the last time he sat in this seat. He felt like a different man. No longer a Jedi padawan-turned-smuggler flying away from his past. Now he was flying back to his past. To his destiny.

Ben flicked some switches. Pushed some levers. The _Millennium Falcon_ rose, jetting through the atmosphere and beyond to lightspeed.


	19. Evacuation

**D'Qar**

A day or two after the _Millennium Falcon_ 's departure, the Resistance base on D'Qar was forced into evacuation when intelligence came in of an impending First Order invasion, led by Supreme Leader Snoke himself via his enormous capital ship, the _Supremacy._

A huge MC85 Resistance cruiser called the _Raddus_ , named after the legendary Mon Calamari Admiral Raddus who died in the Battle of Scarif, ascended from the planet, accompanied by an escort of the Resistance’s three other warships--the _Anodyne_ , _Ninka_ , and _Vigil_ \-- and other assorted craft.

On the planet's surface, the young Lieutenant Kaydel Ko Connix and her tall colleague Jones oversaw the frantic evacuation of the doomed rebel base.

"We're not clear yet!" Jones yelled over the roar of desperate activity. "There's still thirty pallets of cannon shells in C bunker!"

"Forget the ammunition, there's no time. Just get everyone on the transport!" Connix ordered. Just then she heard a distant boom from high in the atmosphere. "Oh, no."

Connix and Jones looked up and saw two _Resurgent_ -class Star Destroyers appear in the cloudy blue sky, quickly joined by the Star Destroyer _Finalizer_. The _Supremacy_ was likely not far behind.

Damn it! This attack had been so unexpected! The Battle of Starkiller had been a victory, but a victory at a steep cost for everyone, General Leia included. After she sent her son Ben on a mission to find Luke Skywalker, the Resistance High Command had requested she address the dead and rally the troops. 

The question on everyone's mind: how the hell did they get here so fast?

***

On board the bridge, Captain Edrison Peavy of the _Finalizer_ watched the _Raddus_ in the distance, then turned to General Armitage Hux.

"We've caught them in the middle of their evacuation," grinned Peavy.

Hux suppressed a surge of annoyance. Peavey was old—a veteran of Imperial service who’d served with Hux’s hated late father, Brendol. He and a handful of Imperial loyalists had managed to escape the New Republic’s hunters by venturing into the uncharted Unknown Regions. Those loyalists had been useful in their time, but their time was at an end. Peavey and his generation saw the First Order as a restoration of the Empire, not as a superseding regime that had distilled and perfected the Empire's strengths while eliminating its weaknesses, a fulfillment of what the Empire had struggled to become. 

"Perfect... I have my orders from Supreme Leader Snoke himself. This is where we snuff out the Resistance once and for all," Hux replied arrogantly. "Tell Captain Canady to prime his Dreadnought. Incinerate their base, destroy their transports and obliterate their fleet."

The enormous _Mandator IV_ -class Siege Dreadnought known as the _Fulminatrix_ , owned by Captain Moden Canady, popped from hyperspace and into the starry blackness to join the others from the far reaches of space. Two massive cannons slung beneath the ship's belly began to lower and take aim.

Hux grinned as the _Fulminatrix_ took aim. At least Canady was at least somewhat competent, even if he too was a relic of a bygone era.

"General, Resistance ship approaching," the a beautiful yet stern monitor reported from the red-lit bridge pit. "Launching shields in attack mode."

Hux turned towards the monitor, incredulous. "A single light fighter?"

***

Poe Dameron stood down the _Fulminatrix_ from cockpit of his X-Wing.

Was he confident? Hell yeah! He just helped blow up a frigging planet-sized superweapon on Starkiller Base!

Was he angry? Definitely. He lost a lot of friends to the First Order, and the girl he had a lot of feelings for was currently in a coma from a lightsaber attack from their psycho-bitch Dark Side princess, who also squished his balls when she held him prisoner.

Was he worried? Yes. He was flying an X-Wing with experimental booster technology that may or may not blow up.

BB-8 seemed to be the latter, beeping agitatedly from its post in the droid socket behind the cockpit.

"Happy beeps here, buddy, come on!" Poe chided, almost trying to convince himself. "We've pulled crazier stunts than this."

<Just for the record, Commander Dameron, I'm with the droid on this one> General Leia said through the radio from the _Raddus_ bridge.

"Thank you for your support, General," replied Poe dryly.

"Happy beeps," Poe reiterated to BB-8. He flicked a switch to communicate with the _Finalizer_. "Attention! This is Commander Poe Dameron of the Republic fleet, I have an urgent communique for General Hux."

<This is General Hux of the First Order. The Republic is no more. Your fleet are rebel scum and war criminals. Tell your precious princess there will be no terms... there will be no surrender.>

"Hi, I'm holding for General Hugs," Poe replied, stifling a laugh.

<This is _Hux_. You and your friends are doomed!> Hux snapped. Poe could hear the agitation in his voice. <We will wipe your filth from the galaxy!>

"OK, I'll hold," Poe said straightly.

<Hello?> Hux asked, unsure.

"Hello?" Poe replied. "Yup. I'm still here."

<Can you.... can he hear me?> Poe could hear Hux asking a subordinate.

"Hugs?" Poe mocked.

<He can.> groaned Hux. Poe could just imagine the faces of the crew. It was almost cruel to put them in that situation where laughter at a superior officer could get you executed.

Almost.

"With an 'H'," Poe continued. "Skinny guy. Kinda pasty."

<I can hear you.> growled Hux, losing his patience. <Can you hear me?>

"Look, I can't hold forever," Poe said, mocking Hux's impatience. "If you reach him.... tell him Leia has an urgent message for him."

<I believe he's tooling with you, sir.> said an unknown voice

Poe smiled. Damn right he was. "About his mother."

A pause.

<OPEN FIRE!!!> screamed Hux into the comm.

Poe flicked off the comm. He delayed enough to charge his booster engine. Time to get down to business.

Poe yelled for BB-8 to punch it. A moment later, Poe's X-Wing leapt forward as if punted, nearly blacking him out from the incredible g-forces. 

Once the acceleration compensators kicked in, his vision cleared and he focused on the First Order’s massive Siege Dreadnought that loomed ahead of him.

“Whoa—that’s got a kick!” Poe yelled as his fighter skimmed over the Dreadnought's nose, at the apex of the giant wedge, and up over the turbolaser cannons that dotted its upper hull.

The _Fulminatrix_ ’s cannons had been designed to be able to target enemy starfighters, but Poe's X-Wing was moving at speeds no First Order point-defense crews had ever experienced, even in their advanced simulators. Poe dodged and weaved over the battleship’s hull, a single pass over the topside reduced several of the cannons to smoking scrap.

As Poe wheeled around for another run, he activated his comlink and switched over to the general Resistance channel. “Taking out the cannons now—bombers, start your approach!”

Aboard the _Fulminatrix_ , Moden Canady watched grimly as the lone X-wing eliminated cannon after cannon, stripping his ship of its dorsal defenses.

A hologram of Hux flickered to life, much to Canady's annoyance.

“Captain Canady, why aren’t you blasting that puny ship?” Hux demanded.

“That puny ship is too small and at too close range,” he told Hux scornfully, annoyed at the younger general's penchant for grand gestures over sensible military tactics. “We need to scramble our fighters.”

As Hux considered this, Canady turned away from the hologram. “Five bloody minutes ago,” he muttered.

“He’ll never penetrate our armor,” an officer said, peering disdainfully at the X-Wing closing in on them.  
  
Canady rolled his eyes impatiently at his inexperienced adjutant. “He’s not trying to penetrate our armor—he’s clearing out our surface cannons."  
  
“Captain!” reported his warrant officer. “Resistance bombers approaching!”

“Of course they are,” Canady groaned.

***

Eight bombers, resembling atmospheric weathervanes with tubular fuselages, made their approach, speeding towards the Dreadnought opposite Poe's position, surrounded by a score of X-Wings and A-Wings as a protective starfighter escort.

<Bombers, keep that formation tight. Fighters, protect the bombers.> ordered A-Wing pilot Tallie Lintra. <Let's do some damage and buy our fleet time.>

Poe skimmed his X-Wing over the _Fulminatrix’_ s surface, blasting cannon after cannon to protect the bombers' approach, staying under the firing arc to avoid getting hit.

Poe had destroyed all but one cannon when BB-8 whistled a warning. TIE Fighters were approaching fast!

"Here comes the parade," Poe quipped as three TIEs split off from the swarm and made a beeline towards his X-Wing, firing their turbolasers at his belly cannons, where his shields were at their weakest.

"Shit! BB-8! My weapon systems are down!" cried Poe, veering off. "We need to take down that last cannon or our bombers are toast! Work your magic!"

Poe threw his X-Wing in a series of barrel rolls to dodge the enemy fire and give BB-8 a chance to weld the power line to his belly cannons.

A glance out of the canopy indicated that the TIEs were about to swarm the Resistance bombers.

"Tallie!" Poe warned. "Heads up!"

The Resistance X-and A-Wings engaged the TIEs while the bombers unleashed their turret guns, keeping the enemy at bay.

But the First Order still had the numbers advantage, and it wasn't long before the voices streaming on Poe's comm began to fizzle out.

<We're not going to get old out here, Poe.> Tallie said. <Give me some good news!>

"Hold tight!" Poe replied, checking the status of his cannons. "BB-8, we need to kill that last cannon. I need my guns!"

BB-8 beeped that the repairs were going to take some time. The junction box was damaged.

Poe cursed and evaded another enemy salvo, never letting the remaining turbolaser cannon out of his sights. All he had to do was take it out so that the bombers could drop their payloads and deal the First Order another major blow.

But the _Fulminatrix_ was determined to land a blow first. The two autocannons on its undercarriage surged a river of energy torwards D'Qar, destroying where the Resistance Base had just been. All Poe could do was hope everyone had evacuated in time.

Putting to rest those fears was Admiral Ackbar, proudly at the helm of his fellow Mon Calamari's namesake. <The last transports are aboard! Evacuation is complete!>

Poe sighed. Now all he had to do was destroy that damn cannon so the bombers didn't have to worry about the Dreadnought.

<Poe, you did it. Now get your squad back here.> General Leia ordered. <We need to get the fleet the hell out of here!>

Poe shook his head. He couldn't believe what the General was saying! "No! We need to finish this! How many chances do we get to take down a Dreadnought?"

<Disengage now!> snapped Leia. <That's an order!>

Poe pretended not to hear her last command and switched the comm off. He swerved his X-Wing around the swarming TIEs and squared the last cannon of the _Fulminatrix_ in his targeting computer.

"BB-8, it's now or never!" Poe called.

A squeal of triumph from BB-8 and an illuminated weapons indicator on his dash and Poe was back in the game. He hardly waited until he got a full charge before he fired, finally exploding the _Fulminatrix_ ’s last turbolaser cannon.

Poe then wrenched his fighter around to confront the pursuing TIEs, catching them by surprise with a couple more well-aimed blasts.

"All clear!" announced Poe. "Bring on the bombs!"

<Happy to!> Tallie replied cheerfully.

Over the course of the skirmish, the Resistance's bombers and fighters had been whittled down to half their original number. Yet if any of them were able to drop their payload of magno-charges on the Dreadnought, they would be able to get the job done.

With it's turbolasers disabled, the _Fulminatrix_ ’s defense hinged on its TIE Fighters, which swelled in number by the Dreadnought and its neighboring Destroyers.

The First Order's ruthless strategy was effective. More of Poe's friends were overwhelmed by the swarming TIEs like an animal that knocked over a beehive, their screams echoing through the comms before abruptly cutting off.

<We can't hold them!> a voice cried.

"Yes we can!" Poe declared, taking his X-Wing into the fray. "Stay tight with the bombers!"

<Almost there!> urged Tallie as the fighters valiantly fought back against the TIEs. <Bombardiers, begin the drop sequence!>

The lead bomber, the _Crimson Smiter_ , zoomed past and opened its bomb bay doors.

<Sequence initiated,> broadcasted its bombardier. <Payload ready to del--->

The transmission never finished, as a TIE careened into the _Crimson Smiter_ 's bomb bay and sparked a chain reaction that set all the bomber's magno-charges off obliterating any vessel unfortunate enough to be nearby, including many of the Resistance's bombers.

Only one bomber remained: the _Cobalt Hammer,_ desperately defending itself against any TIE that came too close to it with its underbelly cannons.

***

 _< Cobalt Hammer_! Why aren't your bay doors open?> came the voice of Commander Poe Dameron. <Nix! Come in!>

Nix didn't respond. And when turret gunner Paige Tico saw the _Fulminatrix_ ’s underbelly cannons point away from D'Qar and towards the _Raddus_ , where her sister Rose was stationed as a technician, she didn't wait.

She just acted.

She scrambled out of the turret and into the bomb chute. Not one of the thousand magno-charges had been dropped, still resting along the length of the shaft. The bay doors remained closed.

Smoke barreled down the chute. Paige crouched, peering through the haze. Sure enough, on the highest catwalk, Nix lay dead, likely from the _Crimson Smiter_ explosion.

<Drop the payload!> called Poe desperately. <NOW!>

It was down to her.

Paige scuttled up the ladder to Nix. Clutched tight in his hands was the remote trigger to the bomb bay doors.

The ship then shook violently from a TIE attack and Paige lost her footing. She fell off the ladder, falling down the chute, smashing into a midlevel catwalk below.

Pain shot through her limbs, and she choked on the thickening smoke. She could hardly move.

High above her head, the catwalk rattled and the  
trigger twitched.  
  
Paige drove her foot into the ladder, again and again, pain shooting up her leg. She ignored it. She didn't have time for pain. The _Raddus_ didn't have time for her pain. Rose didn't have time for her pain.

Had the trigger moved? She couldn’t tell.

Paige aimed one last desperate kick at the base of the ladder. The trigger bounced and fell off the catwalk. She reached up a trembling hand, trying to intercept the trigger as it tumbled through the air, clattering this way and that off the magno-charges in their racks.

Somehow, the trigger fell into her hand. _Click_.

The rack safeties and the bay doors opened with a loud, screeching whine.

Paige’s hand crept up her flight suit to her collar, hunting for the Otomok medallion around her neck. She found it and held tight as the bombs fell like a rain shower out of their racks, drawn magnetically down toward the distant _Fulminatrix_ ’s surface.

The _Cobalt Hammer_ shuddered and lost power, plummeting into the fire and ruin of the dying _Fulminatrix_ below.

But Paige's last thoughts were not of victory or destruction.

They were of love.

 _Rose_.

***

As the Dreadnought broke apart, the remaining Resistance fighters peeled off and raced for the safety of the _Raddus_ , pursued doggedly by vengeful TIEs and laser fire from the Star Destroyers.

“Start the lightspeed jump, now!” Poe yelled triumphantly, throttling towards the distant Resistance fleet.

Ignoring BB-8’s frantic squalls and the flashing red lights all over his flight console, Poe flew into the _Raddus’_ s fighter hangar at full speed, sending up a trail of sparks as his X-Wing skidded across the durasteel floor.

A moment later the Resistance ships had vanished, leaving the First Order warships to fire at empty space.


	20. Disappointment

**The _Finalizer_ , D'Qar atmosphere **

Shocked silence fell upon the bridge of the _Finalizer_. Hux stood and stared at the empty space where the Resistance fleet had been a moment earlier, then turned his head to regard the burning remains of Canady’s shattered Dreadnought.

“General, Supreme Leader Snoke is making contact from his ship,” called a communications monitor.

“Excellent,” Hux replied, forcing himself to appear impassive. “I’ll take it in my chambers.”

But a moment later a huge hologram of Snoke’s head had appeared on the bridge, looming over Hux with his eyes blazing with rage.

“Oh good, Supreme Leader—” Hux began, but an unseen force slammed him into the polished black floor of the bridge and spun him towards the hologram.

“General Hux,” Snoke snarled. “My disappointment in your performance cannot be overstated.”

Hux fought to rise and reclaim his dignity. “They can’t get away, Supreme Leader! We have them tied on the  
end of a string!”

***

**The _Raddus_ , Deep Hyperspace **

Finley woke with a start, yelling Ben's name—and immediately banged her head.

She looked around wildly, expecting to find herself in the snowy forests of Starkiller Base. That was the  
last thing she remembered: Kira Ren's crackling red lightsaber striking her from behind, making every nerve in her body spasm in agony. It had left her lying in the snow, smelling her own burnt flesh. Even as she faded into unconsciousness she tried to force her arms and legs to move, to get back on her feet.

To save Ben. To save the man that had saved her.

Finley looked around, confused. Her mind was foggy. She was surrounded by white, but it wasn’t a snowy forest—it was the walls and ceiling of a room. She was lying on a gurney, with a transparent medical cocoon above her head. Around her were crates and equipment, scattered haphazardly about.

And there was no sign of Ben.

Finley shoved the medical cocoon’s bubble aside. Her arm crinkled plastically as she did so, and an odd oceanic smell wafted through her nose. She realized shewas wearing a bacta suit of clear flexpoly, ribbed and shot through with tubing.

It was an old, outdated suit— the First Order would have likely fed it into a trash compactor long ago in  
favor of a newer model. But considering the fact that she was alive and the injury to her back was but a dull ache, the suit was effective. 

And that meant she wasn't captured by the First Order.

Finley lifted herself to her feet and promptly fell over. When she righted herself again, the healing bacta fluid was spurting out of the suit and pooling around her feet.   
.  
She stumbled across the cluttered space to a window filled with a blue radiance: the unmistakable signature of hyperspace.

That answered one question, at least: she was aboard a starship. 

_Which_ starship was another question entirely.

***

Poe Dameron's X-Wing cockpit canopy rose and a weary Poe removed his helmet.

“Well done, pal,” he told BB-8.

 _Yeah. Well done_ , thought Poe. He just took out a Dreadnought. He just pushed an X-Wing to speeds faster than maybe any X-Wing in history with that experimental booster engine.

So why did he feel uneasy? He knew The General was probably going to be a little angry at him for disobeying orders, but their relationship was a bit more than that. She was more of a mentor and a surrogate mother to him than a commanding officer ever since he lost his parents. She'd come around eventually to see that he was right to take out that Dreadnought.

Right?

Poe's musings were interrupted by a series of puzzled beeps from BB-8.

“Finley naked leaking bag what?” Poe chuckled. “Your chips all right?”

But a closer look revealed that was indeed a "Finley Naked Leaking Bag" shuffling past the hangar door, streamers of bacta jetting from innumerable ports in her suit.

Poe ran toward the former First Order stormtrooper, aiming to hug her, but thinking better of it when the front of his orange flightsuit got soaked with bacta.

Poe blushed and forced himself to keep his eyes on Finley's confused face. The medical white panties and breast wrap were soaked through and clung to her fit mocha-colored body, leaving little to Poe's imagination.

And Poe had quite the imagination.

“Hey! Wow!” Poe called. “When BB-8 said you were naked and leaking, I gotta say--"

Finley blinked at him. "Where's Ben?"

Poe sighed, saying a little more sharply than he intended: "Let’s just get you dressed. You must have a thousand questions.”

"Yeah, like where's Ben?" Finley pressed. "Where's here?"

"Here's the _Raddus_ ," Poe huffed, beginning to get more than a little jealous. "And your _boyfriend_ is out on a mission to find Luke Skywalker."

Poe stalked away, leaving Finley to wonder what she said wrong, and still with more questions than answers.

***

 **Ahch-To**

The _Millennium Falcon_ soared through an endless cloudy blue sky and towards an endless blue ocean, pristine and mighty. The ocean housed random, mountainous black rock islands, dotted with countless green trees.

Ben Solo had a feeling about one of these islands in particular, strong in the Force. He banked the _Falcon_ towards that island and landed the ship in a clearing a little ways up the choppy shore.

Ben took a deep breath as he began his hike up the considerable mountain that proved to be the dominating feature of the island. He glanced back at Chewbacca and Artoo, who watched him from the bottom of the ramp.

There was no way Artoo was going to traverse this treacherous landscape with its astromech wheels, more suited to spaceships and cityscapes than grasses and rocks.

Chewie insisted on getting the _Falcon_ ready for the journey back, so it was up to Ben to brave the journey up the seemingly endless ancient stone steps built within the rock and foliage of the idyllic island.

The steps seemed to go on forever, so much so that even the determined Ben Solo was beginning to feel fatigued by the time he finally arrived at a clearing with small, modest, primitive stone structures.

There was no one around but chubby little penguin-like birds, despite the signs of civilization. Ben walked past them, attuning his senses, searching for signs of intelligent life.

As his hope began to waver, he stopped. He could feel something.

Something familiar.

He turned. Standing forty feet away from him was a man in a cloak and robe staring out into the vast ocean, his back to Ben.

Ben's heart thundered in his chest as he too stared out into an ocean, the vast ocean of time, having not seen the man before him for over eight years, believing him dead and gone.

Ben stared at the figure for what seemed like forever until the man finally turned to him, slowly.

The man pulled back his hood with both hands, one flesh and bone, one metal and robotic.

It was Ben's uncle, the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, much older, grey, and unkempt than Ben remembered.

There was the kindness in his eyes that Ben too remembered, but there was something grim and tortured about them, also.

When Luke finally recognized who it was, those eyes went wide in shock and confusion.

_"Ben?"_

Ben nodded and smiled hopefully, unhooking the lightsaber from his belt.

The Skywalker saber. Luke's saber.  
  
Ben held it out to him. An offer, a plea.

He was once the galaxy's greatest hope. Ben was asking him to be that great hope once again.

Luke took the saber in his robotic hand and then held it with both hands, staring at the weapon that he had thought lost to time over thirty years prior.

Surprise and then familiarity etched upon Luke's weathered face as he regarded the saber, followed by a grimace of sadness and anger.

Luke shook his head firmly and shoved the saber back into Ben's hands.

"No."

Ben stood rooted to the spot, dismayed and numb as his uncle walked off without another word.

“Uh, Uncle Luke?” Ben managed, but Luke had vanished down the stairs.

Ben hesitated and then hurried after him to the clearing with the ancient huts. He arrived just in time to see the rusted metal door slam, leaving him alone with the chubby keening birds that populated the island.

Ben stalked up to the door and rapped on it angrily, sending the birds into a fluttering panic.

“Uncle Luke, you know who the hell I am!" Ben yelled “Mom sent me. Your sister needs you! _We_ need you!"

There was no reply.

“Uncle?!” he tried again. “ _Hello_?”

This couldn’t be happening, not after all he’d gone through to get here. Not after eight years of not seeing him, of mourning him.

After a few more moments of silence he began banging on the door again, indignant anger boiling over with every echoing knock.

"WHAT?! THE?! FUCK?!"

Ben pounded the door with both fists. " _FUCK_!"

***

Ben stalked back to the cliff where he had just had his disappointing reunion with Luke. Several of the curious, chubby birds were warbling at one another in puzzlement. He shooed them away in frustration, rubbing the knuckles left swollen by hammering on his uncle's door in vain.

Below him, Ben caught sight of a shape under the waters of a shallow bay—a shape too angular to be natural. He realized it was an X-Wing-- his uncle's _Red Five--_ corroded by long immersion in salt water.

If Luke wouldn’t talk to him, he’d arrange a conversation with someone he couldn’t ignore. He strode off in the direction of the _Falcon_.

***

This time, at least, the knock on the door got a response: an annoyed order to go away.

A moment later the door had been separated from its hinges, bouncing off the far wall, and an angry Wookiee was storming into the hut, snarling and roaring.

Ben followed Chewbacca inside, his arms impatiently folded as he regarded his uncle.

“Chewie? Ben? What do you want from me?!”

Chewbacca, still angry, subjected Luke to another round of bellowing.

“You need to come back with us,” Ben demanded.

Luke spared him an annoyed glance.

“I don't need to do anything!” he said, before turning his attention back to Chewbacca. “You shouldn’t be here."

Chewbacca snarled indignantly.

" _You_ shouldn't be here!" snapped Ben.

“I thought you were dead!” retorted Luke. "How did you even find me?"

“Long story,” Ben replied. “We’ll tell you on the _Falcon_.”

“The _Falcon_? Wait... ”

Ben recognized the instant he realized what was wrong.

“Where’s your father?” Luke asked.

The Wookiee’s anger drained away, leaving his shoulders slumped with misery, moaning pitifully.

Ben hesitated, the wounds still fresh. He had a hard enough time to even admit the fact to himself, let alone verbalize it.

"He's dead." Ben replied, stonefaced. "Killed by the First Order."


	21. The Supremacy

**The _Supremacy,_ Deep Hyperspace**

The _Supremacy,_ the first of the galaxy's _Mega_ -class Star Destroyers was a ship truly worthy of its name, a massive flying wedge measuring over thirty-seven miles from wingtip to wingtip, with the destructive power of a full fleet.

The industrial capacity of this behemoth outstripped that of entire star systems, for within its armored hull were factory production lines churning out everything from armor and weapons to even Star Destroyers. It contained R&D labs and training centers for cadets. 

By design, the _Supremacy_ was self-sufficient enough to be able to operate independently for years without making planetfall, for Supreme Leader Snoke had declared it the mobile capital of the First Order, a strategy that had been utilized too late by the former Emperor Palpatine with the second Death Star shortly before his deposition at the hands of the Jedi Luke Skywalker and his father Anakin-- the redeemed Darth Vader-- at the end of the Galactic Civil War.

In doing this, the First Order would limit their vulnerabilities, as the _Supremacy_ couldn't be cut off from supply lines or bring in the unwanted riffraff that had proved to be the downfall of the New Republic and Hosnian Prime, their churning ember of a star and solar system of ashy remains a monument to the day the the First Order eliminated the weaknesses of the Republic and reestablished the principle of rule through military strength and discipline.

Snoke, and by extension the First Order, would restore all that had been stolen from the Empire, and then improve upon that rebuilt foundation, refusing to settle for ruling the handful of sectors claimed in the Outer Rim or colonizing clusters of worlds in the Unknown Regions.

That mission statement was one that had been the primary focus of Kira Ren's life for the better part of the past decade, and her current visit to the _Supremacy_ 's Throne Room one of many she had made during that time.

Few visits of Kira's had ever been pleasant, for Supreme Leader Snoke was a tyrant as a ruler and even more so as a teacher.

Snoke's discipline was necessary for Kira to stay strong and focused. Kira weathered it as a good student should, but this was a visit that even someone as fearless as Kira Ren deeply dreaded.

She had failed him. Failure as a soldier in Snokes First Order typically meant death. Failure as Snoke's apprentice meant something far worse.

The doors opened and Kira stepped into the Throne Room, one of the few beings ever accorded the privilege of seeing Snoke in the flesh.

Banners bearing the regime’s emblem hung overhead, reflected in the gleaming black floor, and red curtains veiled the chamber’s viewports.

In the Throne Room’s shadows, Kira glimpsed droids attending to their duties and the mute, purple-robed aliens that had helped the First Order blaze hyperspace lanes through the Unknown Regions.

The ginger-haired General Hux took his leave as Kira entered, likely answering to Snoke for letting the Resistance fleet slip through his bony fingers during the surprise attack of D'Qar and the unfortunate loss of the Dreadnought _Fulminatrix_.

To Kira's great annoyance, it must have gone well for Hux, as the silver-tongued General couldn't resist giving her a derisive smirk before swaggering onto the still-open doors of the turbolift.

The First Order’s leader sat on his throne, flanked by the black armored Knights of Ren, of which she was the "mistress" of. 

Mistress. She hated that word. Hated the word that was insisted upon her. Hated the word because the connotations it suggested as it pertained to her relationship with them.

And she hated _them_. She hated the Knights of Ren. She may have been the current head of their order, but she didn't truly consider herself one of them. They were like dogs. Well-armed dogs. Relics of an order of knights devoted to Snoke created by an Acolyte named Ren at the start of Snoke's takeover.

They did not bow in submission at her approach, as they customarily did to acknowledge her dominance.

An ill omen, as it could only mean her dominance was no longer recognized and her authority over them rescinded by Snoke himself.

Snoke studied her appraisingly as she knelt. The Supreme Leader wasn’t the towering figure seen in his holographic broadcasts, but he still dwarfed a human. His ancient face was pale, asymmetrical and scarred. His body was thin and hunched, but Snoke radiated immeasurable power. A malignant energy seemed to emanate from him like an odor.

“You wonder why I keep a rabid cur in such a place of power,” Snoke said Hux had left. “Mark this: a cur’s weakness, properly manipulated, can be a sharp tool.”

Kira ignored that—she was in no mood for Snoke’s teachings, not after all that had happened.

“The mighty Kira Ren,” Snoke said, considering his student, rising from his throne, the slow shuffling of his feet hinting at pain that dogged every step.

Kira knelt, stone-faced and emotionless as Snoke approached her, willing herself to remain still as one finger stretched for her cheek, caressing it. 

“When I found you, I saw what all masters live to see: raw, untamed power. The youth and natural talent to hone it. Now I fear I was mistaken.”

Under her hood, Kira glowered at the tall figure in golden khalat robes.

“I’ve given everything I have to you—to the Dark Side,” Kira said, her voice cracking. “ _Everything_.”

"You haven't given me Ben Solo, whose powerful bloodline gives him the potential to be a new Vader," Snoke retorted.

"I defeated him!" Kira shot back. "When the time came to face him, I did not hesitate!"

"You were to bring him to me or kill him, and you failed to do both!" roared Snoke. "You let him slip through your fingers. You let emotion and base desire cloud your judgment!"

Red hot fury ignited deep inside of her, becoming an inferno demanding release. Kira leapt to her feet and had only taken the slightest step toward her master before lightning erupted from Snoke’s fingers, blasting Kira backward and leaving her reeling in pain.

The Knights snapped into combat stances, their various deadly weapons fixed on Kira. A dismissive wave of Snoke’s hand and the Knights straightened again, though they still regarded their mistress with wary suspicion and contempt.

“Skywalker lives! The seed of the Jedi Order lives!" Snoke continued. "As long as it does, hope lives in the galaxy!”

Kira struggled to her feet, shaking with anger and humiliation.

The Supreme Leader fixed Kira with a disgusted look. “I thought you would be the one to snuff it out. Alas... you're nothing but an impetuous child who remains unworthy of her privilege and knighthood. Until you prove otherwise, you' are not fit to be in my presence."

Kira flinched and fell to her knees, groveling before her master. "Supreme Leader! Master! Please! I--"

"GO!" Snoke roared, sending a wave of lightning that sent Kira scrambling toward the turbolift doors.

Kira turned her back on Snoke, fighting to regain a sense of dignity and composure as she awaited the turbolift — and so missed the cruel smile that twisted the Supreme Leader’s face.

In the turbolift, doors shut, Kira stumbled and fell to her knees once more, catching herself with her hands.

_Plit plit plit..._

Her tears fell freely upon the silver chrome floor as she stared down at her balled fists, shaking with a rage that felt like it would burn and blister her very flesh.

The Force was howling inside her, erupting in a primal scream that shook the turbolift, shaking and slowing the lift as the lights flickered and the durasteel walls warped like a soda can.

The turbolift doors opened with a smoky groan and the two frightened officers at its entrance took an instinctive step backward from the seething young woman in black that emerged from it

Kira stalked out, shaking with barely controlled rage, eyes bleary and wild. "PREPARE MY SHIP!!!"


	22. Frustration

**Luke Skywalker's Island. Ahch-To**

The late-afternoon twin suns hung low over the islands of Ahch-To, lengthening the shadows of the ancient stone huts. Below, the surf churned, sloshing rhythmically like the sound of static-- a white noise that would have been peaceful in any other situation, but Ben Solo wasn't here to sightsee or go swimming.

Ben had at least coaxed his uncle out of the hut for some fresh air, and he sat on a bench outside his simple dwelling, next to a morose Chewbacca.

Ben told Luke of how he survived the temple explosion because he had been wandering in the surrounding forests, of how he found nothing but smoke and fire when he emerged running from the woods.

Of how he searched for life among the scorched ruins but couldn't find any.

Of how he left the planet forever on the transport they would use for expeditions and buried the life as a Jedi deep down for a new life of smuggling with his father and Chewie.

A father that was murdered. Ben had spared him the details. He wasn't sure he himself was ready to recount them. 

But it couldn’t be put off any longer.

“Look, we're all grieving here,” Ben said. “I loved dad, but his killers are out there, and they're only getting stronger. Rey... remember her? She goes by the name of Kira Ren now. She's one of them and she needs to be stopped."

The mere mention of that name seemed to pierce Luke like a lightsaber where he sat slumped beside Chewie. For a moment he struck Ben as old and broken, drained of whatever power he had once possessed, a shell of the great man Ben once knew.

But the galaxy needed this man, and everything he once represented. The galaxy-- Ben--- needed him to rise above the misery of that had driven him into this self-imposed exile.

Ben had been sent to find him, and he had. Now he had to reach him, and make him understand the knife-edge on which everything stood.

Ben understood what was at stake. He was just as scarred by the past and reluctant to take up the saber again but he had no choice. Why didn't Luke?

“Mom showed me estimates of the First Order’s military stock,” Ben said. “It’s massive. And now that the Republic is destroyed there’s nothing to stop them. They will control all the major systems within weeks. They'll destroy the Resistance, kill Mom and everyone left that I care about. Now will you help us? We need the Jedi Order back. C'mon. You and I..."

Luke’s eyes were cold. “No.”

“What?” Ben snapped.

“You don’t need Luke Skywalker. You don't need the Jedi Order."

“Did you hear a fucking word I just said?" Ben shot back, his temper rising. "We really, _really_ do.”

Luke scowled. “You think... what? That I’m going to walk out with a laser sword and face down the whole First Order? The Jedi—if we... or say the Jedi of the past came back... what do you think would actually happen?"

Ben looked at him in disbelief. Was he really trying to debate logistics here? Did he really not understand what the Jedi meant to a galaxy in peril?

“When the fuck did you become such a coward?" Ben snapped, losing all sense of composure and jumping to his feet.

“What did you think was going happen here?” Luke asked angrily. “Do you think I don’t know my friends are suffering? Or that I came to the most unfindable place in the galaxy for no reason at all?”

“Then why did you come here?!” Ben demanded.

Rather than answer, Luke got to his feet, gazing sorrowfully at Chewie and Ben.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m _not_ coming back.”

Chewbacca didn’t respond—his fury at Luke was spent-- but Ben got up close, pointing a finger in his uncle's face.

“Well, I’m _not_ leaving without you,” he warned.

“Get comfortable, then,” Luke replied as he retreated into his hut, stopping to pick up the broken door and lean it up against the stone.

Ben stalked over to front of the doorway, sticking his head and shoulders in through the gap.

"HEY! FUCK YOU!" Ben roared before stalking away.

Ben glared at Chewbacca. The Wookiee looked pointedly away. For whatever reason, it seemed he had given up trying to convince Luke.

But Ben hadn't given up.

He'll let Luke think he’d given up—but he would soon discover otherwise.

***

**The _Raddus_ , Deep Hyperspace **

Finley had been led to a fresher by an Resistance officer, where a sonic shower and a fresh change of clothes was waiting for her. She was glad to get the rest of the slimy remnants of the bacta off of her, but her side itched horribly, so much so that she snapped irritably when she bumped into Poe on her way out of the fresher.

"What do you want?" Finley demanded. She still hadn't forgiven him from before.

"I wanted to apologize for earlier," Poe replied, handing her a bundle from under his arms. "And to give you this."

It was the pilot’s old jacket, she saw now—the one Finley had salvaged from a wrecked TIE on Jakku, when she’d thought Poe was dead, and that Kira Ren had ultimately sliced through in their confrontation on Starkiller Base. The slice of the leather in the back had been mended by a decidedly inexpert hand, but it was sufficient.

“I’m not much of a sewer,” Poe said apologetically. “Plus I was, you know, saving the fleet. I guess I was just more than a little tense when I snapped at you earlier.”

Finley smiled and accepted the jacket, putting it on. "I get it. It's okay. I'm still a bit tense myself from Starkiller."

Poe nodded and grinned, clapping her shoulder jovially.

"Speaking of Starkiller..." Finley frowned. "You won, right? You blew it up, Starkiller Base, the Resistance got the map... so why does this not feel like winning?”

At Poe's side, BB-8 blooped mournfully—apparently the astromech agreed with Finley. She squatted down to pat the droid.

"Hey buddy, I missed you," she said affectionately.

“We came out of hiding to attack Starkiller,” Poe explained. “It didn’t take the First Order long to find our base. But don't worry. We got this.”

Finley sighed and stood up, trying to figure out how to phrase what she knew she had to say. Poe was always good to her. She'd always grateful for his kindness, for her name.

For his _friendship_. 

Poe was reading too much into _everything_. Into her loyalties. Into her romantic interests. Did he really think she was interested in romance when she was running from a life of military conscription by the First Order? 

“Look, Poe,” she said. “I believe in what you guys are doing. But I didn’t join this army—I followed Ben here. I don’t want you thinking I’m something I’m not.”

Poe flinched. Poe didn’t understand that she hadn’t joined the attack on Starkiller Base to help the Resistance, but to rescue Ben and then disappear where the First Order could never find her. If Ben or anyone else had wanted to go with her, then fine. They'd been watching each other's back since they met.

The First Order would never stop hunting the Resistance until it was destroyed, but she could've had a chance to escape their notice and create a life for herself on some quiet backwater world.

"It all comes back to Ben, doesn't it?" Poe shook his head bitterly, completely misinterpreting her words.

Finley began to explain herself further, becoming frustrated at his misinterpretation of her relationship to both men.

She had rejected Ben romantically. _Twice_. He understood and moved on. She liked Poe. He was a good man, but he needed to understand that she simply wasn't interested in him like that.

Finley was just about to tell him exactly that, but before she could speak, a certain golden protocol droid rushed around the corner, startling BB-8 and nearly plowing into them.

“Commander Dameron, General Leia requests your presence on the bridge at once,” announced Threepio. “I tried to make that sound as pleasant as I could.”


	23. Attack on the Raddus

**The _Raddus_ , Deep Space**

Poe couldn’t remember a time he hadn’t known Leia Organa. She’d been a mentor to his parents, Kes Dameron and Shara Bey in the Rebel Alliance. She’d kept tabs on him as he grew up, and when they passed away, she’d convinced him to follow in their footsteps in the Resistance.

He knew her well enough to recognize the cold fury, and even worse so-- the disappointment-- on her face as he entered the bridge of the _Raddus_ , with Finley and BB-8 trailing nervously behind him.

An angry Leia Organa was a force to be reckoned with—and one for which Poe and everyone in the Resistance had a healthy respect.

But Poe felt certain he could talk her down. He always had before, after all. They understood each other. She knew he could be rash and headstrong, but she said that the Resistance could use a little rashness when she recruited him.

He knew she wouldn’t have him any other way, so it was a real shock when she slapped him across the face.

“You’re demoted,” she said, ignoring the stunned faces around them on the bridge.

“For what?” Poe protested, his cheek stinging. “A successful run? We took out a Dreadnought!”

“At what cost?" Leia shot back. "Pull your head out of your cockpit!” 

“You start an attack, you follow it through!” Poe said.

“There are things you can’t solve by jumping in an X-Wing and blowing something up!" Leia countered, exasperated. "I need you to learn that.”

“There were heroes on that mission,” Poe said, unwilling to concede his point.

“Dead heroes,” Leia snapped. “No leaders.”

The silence that followed was uncomfortable and seemingly endless. It was Finley who broke it.

“We’re really nowhere—deep space,” she said. “How’s Ben going to find us now?”

Poe let out a sharp sigh at the mention of Ben's name. Finley ignored him. 

The Resistance fleet had emerged from hyperspace at an old Rebel rendezvous point that was nothing more than arbitrarily chosen coordinates, and Finley was staring at a holographic chart of their position in confusion.

Leia lifted her sleeve to reveal a faintly glowing bauble strapped to her wrist like a bracelet.

“A cloaked binary beacon," Finley said.

Leia nodded, impressed that she knew what it was. “To light his way home.”

“All right,” Finley said. “So until he gets back, what’s the plan?”

“We need to find a new base,” Leia replied.

Commander D’Acy nodded. “One with enough power to get a signal to our allies scattered in the Outer Rim.”

“And most important, we need to get there undetected,” Leia added.

As if in answer, a deafening alarm began blaring on the bridge.

“A proximity alert!” said a startled Ackbar.

“That can’t be,” Poe cried, shaking him out of his grumpy scowl.

But a glance at the _Raddus_ ’s holographic displays showed that it was. The _Supremacy_ had emerged from hyperspace, accompanied by more than two dozen Star Destroyers.

“That’s Snoke’s ship,” Poe lamented. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Can we jump to lightspeed?”

“We have just enough fuel for one jump,” Connix announced gravely, her face pale.

“Do it fast—we have to get out of here!” Poe ordered.

"Wait!" Leia held up her hand, a grim realization dawning on her. “They tracked us through hyperspace.”

“That’s impossible,” Poe replied, shaking his head.

“Yes, it is," agreed Leia. "And they’ve done it.”

“So if we jump to lightspeed, they’ll just find us again and we’ll be out of fuel,” Finley pointed out, breaking the stunned silence on the bridge. “We’re trapped. They’ve got us.”

“Not yet they don’t,” Poe insisted chancing a cocked eyebrow when he turned to Leia. “Permission to jump in an X-wing and blow something up?”

A ghost of a grin crossed Leia's face. “Granted.”

Poe hurried off the bridge, almost relieved to be returning to battle and not facing Leia's wrath.

As Poe headed for the hangar, he promised himself he’d find time to think about what she’d said and why she’d said it.

Just then, a cannonade from the First Order task force ripped into the the cargo frigate, followed by a flight of First Order TIEs that skimmed past and destroying the cruiser's groaning and shuddering hull.  
  
“Torpedo!” cried out a sensor officer. “Direct hit on the starfighter hangar!”

Leia had no time to think of the losses they’d sustained on an already unbearable day, or to wonder if Poe had reached the hangar before impact. She just had the time to act.

“Full engines ahead,” she ordered, her voice cutting through the growing panic on the bridge. “Get out of range of the Star Destroyers and the fighters will fall back.”

"All craft, full engines,” advised Admiral Ackbar. “Concentrate rear shields.”

Leia nodded. The _Raddus_ was at the tail end of the Resistance column, its shields between their First Order pursuers and the other three ships

Kira Ren banked her fighter—a prototype TIE _Silencer_ with a hull as black as space—away from the ruin of the starfighter hangar, her wingmates matching the maneuver.

The Resistance fleet could hardly be called a fleet at this point-- the initial attack on D'Qar had reduced it to a Mon Calamari heavy cruiser and two smaller craft.

The smaller ships were of little consequence, for Kira's focus was on the heavy cruiser, which had rebalanced its shield envelope to protect it against the First Order vessels harrying its stern. That was a sound strategy, but it left the cruiser vulnerable to prowling TIEs—and Kira had just ensured it wouldn’t be launching starfighters anytime soon.

“Target the main bridge,” Kira ordered.

General Leia Organa would be there, she knew. It wasn’t Leia Organa’s style to lead from the rear, or to put her own concerns above whatever cause she held dear at a given moment.

Pathetic. Her New Republic was destroyed. And now the Resistance—the last of the old relic's causes—would follow it into extinction.

The _Raddus’_ s bridge was locked in Kira’s sights. She glanced at her instruments, verifying that her torpedoes were loaded and armed.

The was General indeed there. She could feel her presence in the Force. A strong presence in the Force. 

A familiar presence. Just like Ben Solo's.

 _Ben_...

Her thumb hovered over the trigger, shaking.

She couldn't do it.

_Why?! Why couldn't she fire?!_

Kira depressed the trigger slightly, not quite enough to fire.

And then she lifted her thumb. For whatever reason, she couldn’t do it.

A moment later, Kira’s wingmate fired.

***

The torpedo sheared through the bridge of the _Raddus_ and exploded. Within a nanosecond the expanding envelope of overpressurization from the blast hurled crew members and equipment in all directions, shattering the viewports, and buckling the bulkheads separating the bridge from the rest of the ship.

Then the torpedo’s payload of superheated plasma vaporized everything that the intial blast wave hadn’t flung into space, leaving behind a ruin of twisted, blackened metal, already cooling in the vacuum.

The explosion rocked Kira in her cockpit. The shock of the explosion had shattered her focus, leaving her breathing hard behind her _Silencer_ 's control yoke. Beyond that, she was still reeling from freezing up at such a critical moment.

<The Resistance ships have pulled out of range.> Hux reported over his comlink. <We can’t cover you at this distance. Return to the fleet.>

“No!” Kira snapped, turning back toward the Raddus, determined to make up for her moment of weakness and erase the Resistance fleet from existence.

<Snoke’s command.> Hux insisted, sounding almost bored. <They won’t last long, burning fuel like this. It’s just a matter of time.>

"Fuck!" Teeth gritted in frustration, Kira broke off the attack, streaking for the distant line of First Order warships just as the _Raddus’_ s guns incinerated another TIE. 

Kira Ren cursed the Resistance, that damn arrogant General Hux, and Force help her, _herself_.

***

**Exterior _Raddus_ debris, Deep Space **

Leia Organa flew through the void like a ghost, but she wasn't one quite yet.

Yet.

She could feel the moisture in her eyes and mouth evaporating and her lungs struggling for air that wasn’t there.

All around her she saw debris—and members of the bridge crew. Those who weren’t dead would be soon.

She could see the First Order TIE fighters, shrinking in the distance towards the lights of Star Destroyers,  
relentlessly hunting the Resistance's beleaguered fleet.

She could surrender, and it would all be over in a moment. She would be at peace.

Then she noticed another light nearby, drifting through space amid the wreckage. It was her son's beacon, she realized—the one he would need to find her way back. It had come loose from Leia’s wrist.

Her hand closed around its soft glow. She couldn’t give up, not yet. She had to go on—for Ben and everyone else on the _Raddus_. And for all those the First Order would seek to doom.

Luke had told her that she’d drawn on the Force all her life without being aware of it, lending her strength as a princess of Alderaan, a politician for the New Republic, and military leader.

Their telepathic bond on Cloud City was the first she became aware of it, and after Endor, Leia had learned to open herself to the Force, to feel the mysterious energy field that underpinned the cosmos.

Luke wanted to teach her how to access the Force  
consciously; after that, it would be up to her to find her own path.

Her path since then had not been in pursuit of a Jedi path like her brother had taken, but Leia still immersed herself in the Force nonetheless. It was too entrenched in her being for her not to.

Outside the _Raddus_ with her life hanging by a thread, Leia closed her eyes and remembered.

 _"Stretch out with your feelings"_ , Luke had told her.

He’d explained that life created the Force and made it grow, a luminous tide that overflowed the boundaries of the bodies that generated it, connecting and binding all life in a web of energy that spanned the galaxy.

By opening one's self to the Force, one could then guide its possibilities and do extraordinary things.

Leia’s eyes closed and she lowered her head, her outstretched hands tensing as she concentrated.

_Feel the Force around you. Life creates it, makes it grow._

Leia reached out with her senses. She was surrounded by the remains of battle—and there was no life in the void of space.

Faintly, she could see the Resistance crew gathered at an air lock. She could sense their panic as they watched her float among the wreckage.

Leia focused on them, on their Living Force, and asked the Force to help her pull herself towards them and return to the broken bridge. 

Even as her senses dimmed, Leia's body soared toward the gaping maw of the shattered bridge, sliding through the wreckage and into the lock. Leia’s fingers brushed the viewport, and the outer hatch closed. Then the inner door opened, flooding the narrow space with light and air and life.

Desperate hands guided Leia in, and finally safe, she faded into darkness.


	24. The Uneti Tree

**Luke Skywalker's Island, Ahch-To**

The next few days following their blow-up had been rather eventful, but not in the way Ben would have preferred. 

He stalked his Uncle Luke through the downpouring rain or bright sunshine watching Luke as he went about his daily routine. He'd shadow him as he milked the elephantine Thala-Siren for its green milk. He'd watch as Luke would traverse clifftop to clifftop with poles several stories tall to hunt for gigantic fish with long barbed spears.

Luke was persistent in his avoidance of Ben, but Ben was just as persistent, if not more so. Ben had Han Solo for a father, a man just as stubborn and dug in as any. Ben had spent over eight years talking swindling his way throughout the galaxy, and talking and scrapping his way out of sticky situations. Getting to Luke should have been a cinch, but Luke was no idiot pirate or a lowly scoundrel that Ben was used to dealing with.

An early afternoon saw Ben trailing Luke on one of his errands, heading out to the cliffs, presumably to fish again. Luke had grumbled to himself about needing to only fish once or twice a week before, but with Ben and Chewie on the island he had to fish more often. He wondered very aloud why the two didn't just leave.

Ben grinned to himself as Luke headed down a rocky hill. He doubted he could starve Luke off the island, but the way Wookiees ate...

Ben stopped short feet behind his uncle and listened. It was as if the roaring wind had a voice of its own, like an ethereal whistling, calling him.

He searched around for the source of the sound. It was not unlike the pull of his family's saber back at Takodana, but instead of dread, Ben was overcome by a certain sense of curiosity and purpose.

Upon the rocky hill was a very old, very large tree, quite possibly as old as the Jedi themselves.

The tree looked like it had been massive once, but all that remained of it now was an ancient, mossy husk.

In one end an opening gaped, carved by weather and time.

Ben entered the opening. The tree was warm and dry inside. Light from a crack in the ancient trunk fell on a nook in the wood—one that held a row of ten or so very old books.

Ben approached slowly, gazing at them. As Ben began his study as a padawan at Luke's Jedi temple well over a decade ago, he had a voracious thirst for knowledge. Besides learned the lightsaber combat forms and how to manipulating the world around him with the Force, Ben would immerse himself in the history of the Jedi, and practice the dying art of calligraphy in his spare hours.

Obviously, he had gotten out of touch with that side of him since leaving the Jedi life behind, but the books seemed to welcome him back, calling him with the promise of fresh knowledge.

As he neared the books, they began to glow faintly, and Ben felt like the air was thrumming with energy.

Ben reached out her hand toward the books, to touch them.

“Why are you here, Ben?” Luke asked. He had followed him, and now stood looking at him as if for the first time.

Ben was so entranced by the books that he barely noticed that Luke had followed him.

He jerked his hand back like a child caught with his hand in a cookie jar and turned to regard the uncle that had hardly spoken to him in days.

“The Uneti Tree,” Luke explained. “This is a library.”

Luke stepped in front of him and took one of the books off its shelf. He could hardly read the ancient runes inside, but he certainly could feel their power.

“Built a thousand generations ago to keep these—the original Jedi texts,” Luke continued, flipping through the yellowed pages. “The foundation of the ancient faith. They were the first and now, just like me, they are the last of the Jedi religion.”

He looked up from the book, his eyes searching Ben's face. 

“You always were a great student,” Luke said. “Too good at times, not too good in others, especially in the realm of controlling your emotions."

“I'm willing to be your student once again,” Ben replied. "If you'd take me."

Luke repeated his earlier question: “Why are you here, Ben?”

“Weren’t you listening? I told you the whole story," Ben said impatiently.

“I went in and out," Luke deadpanned.

It seemed wrong to roll one’s eyes in the presence of the founding Jedi texts. Ben managed not to.

“The Resistance sent me,” Ben said.

"Why are you here, Ben?” Luke repeated.

Ben huffed. “The Resistance sent me. We need your help. The First Order—”

Luke’s eyes turned flinty as he cut his nephew off, not for the first time.

“You’ve got your youth, you’ve got a battle to fight, a whole universe out there to explore,” he said dismissively. “Why come dig me up? Dry bones, tired old legends. Let them lie, Ben. Find your own path.”

“This is my path," Ben insisted.

“Is it?" asked Luke again. "Why are you here?”

Ben was about to rip his head off for asking the same stupid question over and over, but then it occured to him what he was asking. There was nowhere to hide from his eyes. Ben took a breath, and then looked up at Luke, his jaw set, eyes pleading.

"Ever since the temple, I... I've run away from my destiny for way too long," Ben admitted. "But what my destiny is... I'm not sure."

Luke scrutinized him with narrowed eyes, but didn't say anything.

Ben drew the Skywalker saber, looking uncertainly at it. "When I first touched this saber, I saw _him_. Anakin. Vader. And _you_. And I was afraid."

Luke's eyes went wide at the sound his father's name. _Both_ of his names. "What are you afraid of?"

"I'm afraid of my destiny could be," Ben replied. "I'm afraid of not being strong enough to face it. I'm afraid of losing the ones I love because of it."

"Fear is the path to the Dark Side, Ben," Luke reminded him.

"Then help me!" cried Ben.

“I can’t teach you," Luke said flatly.

“Why not?!" demanded Ben. "Will it interfere too much with your daily routine of self-loathing?!"

“I’ll never teach another generation of Jedi,” Luke said. “You asked why I came here? I came to this island to die—and to burn the library so the Jedi Order dies with me. I know only one truth: It’s time for all of this to end.”

The words seemed to reverberate inside his head, terrible and final.

“Why?” Ben demanded, his voice shaking in anger, a now very familiar feeling.

Luke shook his head sadly and headed toward the entrance of the tree.

Ben frowned. “Mom sent me here with hope. If she was wrong, she deserves to know why. We all do.”

It was all too much, suddenly. Luke had seen the connection between him and the books and stopped ignoring him, only to reject him again.

He poured out his most hidden, private fears and reached out with a hand of need, only to have that hand slapped away.

To reject him, his own nephew; Leia, his own sister, and all those who were depending on him so desperately filled Ben with a rage so all consuming that he almost considered attacking Luke. He stared down at the lightsaber shaking in his hands. His thumb hovered over the switch...

He looked up at Luke. A tear came to his uncle's eye. Ben expected a retort from Luke, a final declaration of refusal or an angry demand to leave the island and never come back. 

But it never came. Just a knowing look. A sad pitying look. 

The anger left Ben as quickly as it came and he hooked the saber to his belt, ashamed of himself for even considering using it on Luke.

Ben glared at Luke and pleaded for him to say something. But he just stared at him with that infuriatingly pitying look for a moment before turning and striding out of the library, reclaiming the solitude he had guarded so closely.


	25. Stunned

**The _Raddus_ , Deep Space **

In a corridor in the depths of the Raddus, Finley sat by herself on an equipment crate, looking down at the glowing beacon in her hand.

Leia had been clutching it when the hatch to the bridge air lock opened. As the crew and medics frantically worked on the badly injured General Organa, the beacon had rolled across the deck, unnoticed, and come to a halt at Finley’s feet. He’d picked it up and then stood back, allowing the medical droids to attend to the Resistance leader and bear her away on a stretcher.

She rolled the device back and forth in her hands. Ben was out there somewhere— and when he returned, it would be to the beacon’s location.

Finley got to her feet. She knew what he had to do, even though Poe and his other friends in the Resistance would never understand.

She was going to find him and warn him. There was no other way. 

Finley made her way down and snuck around to the escape pod bay, peeking around corners, eyes scanning.

The coast was clear. 

Carefully, she approached a pod and opened it, tossing her bag inside.

“What are you doing here?” a voice asked Finley, startling her.

Finley whipped around. A short young woman in a pair of technician coveralls approached her. She had a round face, bordered by dark hair styled in side bangs and a tight bun in the back. What really struck Finley was her heavy-lidded eyes, wet and sad with recent tears. She fiddled with a silver medallion in a crescent moon shape as she approached her.

“Hi!” Finley stammered, trying to explain herself without really explaining herself.

The young woman looked at Finley with an odd expression, and then her face lit up like she just met a celebrity.

“You’re Finn! Finley! The Finley!” she said.

Finley looked perplexed. “The Finley?”

"I'm so sorry!" the girl flubbed. "Do you prefer Finn? Finley?"

"Whatever," Finley smiled politely.

“Sorry, I work behind pipes all day,” the young woman replied embarrassingly.

Finley nodded.

“Doing talking with Resistance heroes is not my forte,” she said, then cringed at how that had come out. “Doing talking. I’m Rose. Rose Tico."

“Breathe,” Finn told her, and she did. It helped, a little.

“I’m not a Resistance hero,” Finley said truthfully. “But it was nice talking to you, Rose."

Rose smiled and strode closer.

"Um... May the Force be with you," Finley added nervously.

“Wow,” Rose managed. “You, too.”

“Okay, but you are a hero,” she said, finding her back at the open hatch of the escape pod where she had left her. “You left the First Order, and what you did on the Starkiller Base—”

“Listen—” Finn tried to say, but Rose kept on talking, hoping to make her understand.

“When we heard about it, Paige—my sister—said, ‘Rose, that’s a real hero. A real woman. Knows right from wrong and don’t run away when it gets hard,’ she said.”

“Sure.”

“You know, just this morning I’ve had to stun three people trying to jump ship in these escape pods,” Rose said angrily. “Running away.”

“That’s disgraceful,” Finley replied evenly, thinking of the irony of how she came to the Resistance in the first place.

“I know. Anyway..." Rose trailed off.

“Well, I should get back to what I was doing,” Finley said, smiling innocently.

“What were you doing?” asked Rose.

“Checking. Just checking the . . . uh, doing a check.”

Rose’s eyes jumped from Finley's face to the bag on the deck to the open escape pod. “Checking the escape pods."

“Routine check,” Finn said.

“By boarding one. With a packed bag.”

“Okay, listen—” Finn began, but she had heard enough. She reached down, the motion practiced by now, unclipped the prod from her belt, raised it, and stunned her.

***

Poe Dameron and the remaining Resistance officers reconvened gathered in the briefing room on the Raddus’s emergency bridge.

Taking the seat next to an Abednedo named C’ai Threnalli, Poe spotted D’Acy and Connix—two of the few officers who hadn’t been on the main bridge during the First Order attack.

D’Acy stepped forward, and the hubbub of conversation ebbed. “General Organa—Leia—is unconscious but recovering. That’s the only good news I have. Admiral Ackbar, all our leadership—they’re gone. Leia was the sole survivor on the bridge.”

“Oh dear, oh dear,” Threepio moaned. The whole room seemed to share his sentiments. Poe knew he did.

D’Acy continued: “If she were here she’d say, Save your sorrow for after the fight. To that end, she left clear instructions as to who should take her place. Someone she’s always trusted, and who has her full confidence.”

Poe considered the likely line of succession. Undoubtedly Ackbar would have been next in line, but the old Alliance veteran was dead. Poe had no idea who else it could be. Who could possibly fill Leia's shoes?

A tall woman with purple hair and a dress of the same color stepped forward to stand next to D'Acy.

The room scrutinized the new woman, unsure whether to feel relief or disappointment. If Holdo was aware of the scrutiny, she didn’t show it.

“Thank you, Commander,” she said, a mercurial half smile on her face. “Look around you. Four hundred of us on three ships. We are the last of the Resistance, but we’re not alone. In every corner of the galaxy, the downtrodden and oppressed know our symbol and they put their hope in it.”

As she spoke, Poe studied the other officers. They looked skeptical, he thought. Or perhaps they were all just in shock.

“We are the spark that will light the fire that will restore the Republic,” Holdo continued. “That spark—this Resistance—must survive. That is our mission. Now to your stations, and may the Force be with us.”

“That’s Admiral Holdo?” Poe asked C’ai. “Battle of Chyron Belt Admiral Holdo?”

The Abednedo pilot shrugged and muttered something in his own language.

“Not what I expected,” Poe said. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

As the crowd broke up, Poe approached Holdo for more specifics.

From what Poe knew of her, she had a reputation for being unconventional and even eccentric. But he also knew she was one of Leia’s oldest and closest confidantes. Despite his trepidation, it was enough for Poe to give her a chance.

“Vice Admiral?” Poe asked tentatively. “Commander Dameron.”

Holdo studied him shrewdly.

“Admiral, with our current fuel consumption there’s a very limited amount of time we can stay out of range of those Star Destroyers,” Poe said.

“Very kind of you to make me aware,” Holdo said.

“And we need to shake them before we find another base. What’s our plan?” asked Poe.

“Our plan... Captain? Not Commander, yes? Wasn’t it Leia’s last official act to demote you? For your Dreadnought plan? Where we lost our entire bomber fleet?” Holdo replied with an edgy smile.

Poe flinched. “Captain, Commander, fine. I just want to know what we’re doing.”

But Holdo wasn’t finished. Her eyes burned into his.  
“Of course you do. I understand—I’ve dealt with plenty of trigger-happy flyboys like you. You’re impulsive. Dangerous. And the last thing we need right now. So stick to your post, and follow my orders.”

And with that the new commander of the Resistance stalked off, leaving Poe stunned in her wake.


	26. A New Plan

**The _Raddus_ , Deep Space**

As before, Finley woke up on her back and completely confused.

This time however, she found that the world was sliding by around her 

She lifted her head, which caused pain to flare at her temples, and saw the back of Rose’s jumpsuit. She had found a cart and was dragging it and her down a corridor on the _Raddus_.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Finley slurred, her mouth and tongue struggling to form the words properly. “I can’t move! What happened?”

Then realization flooded in.

“You stunned me!” she yelped accusingly. “With a . . . stun thing! You’re totally insane. Help!”

Rose shot her a dirty look. “I’m taking you to the brig and turning you in for desertion."

“Why?” Finley demanded.

“Because you were deserting, dummy!” Rose grumbled.

Finley further struggled to move.“No!”

Rose stopped guiding the cart and got in Finley's face, nose-to-nose.

“My sister just died protecting the fleet,” Rose seethed. “I heard what you did on the Starkiller Base. Everyone was talking about you. You were a hero for the Resistance! And now you're running away?”

“Sorry,” Finley shook her head. “But I did what I did to help my friend, not to join another army.”

Rose's teeth gritted in anger. Finley began to talk fast lest Rose stunned her again and she woke up again in the brig.

“I don’t know what you realize it yet, but this fleet is doomed,” she explained. “If my friend comes back to it, he’s doomed, too. I’m going to get this beacon far away from here and warn him. I owe him that much.”

“You’re a selfish traitor,” Rose snapped.

“Look,” Finley pleaded. “If I could help Ben by saving the Resistance fleet I would, but I can’t. Nobody can.”

“Yuh-huh,” Rose said dismissively.

“We can’t outrun the First Order fleet,” Finley said.

“We can jump to lightspeed," Rose countered.

“They can track us through lightspeed.”

That stopped Rose. “They can track us through lightspeed?”

She hadn’t known. But then of course she hadn’t known. Finn knew what it was like to spend shift after shift belowdecks on a warship, doing droidwork and being told nothing.

At least Rose hadn’t been sweating herself half to death in armor.

“They’ll just show up thirty seconds later and we’d have blown a ton of fuel— which, by the way, we’re dangerously short on,” Finley continued.

“They can track us through lightspeed,” she said again, she repeated, still grappling with the information.

“See? Yes!" Finley reiterated. "I can’t feel my teeth. What the hell did you shoot me with?”

“Active tracking,” Rose replied, ignoring her.

Finley did a double take after checking her mouth. “What now?”

“Hyperspace tracking is new tech, but the principle must be the same as any active tracker,” Rose mused. “I’ve done maintenance on active trackers—they’re single-source to avoid interference. So—”

Finley realized the implication and finished her sentence along with her. “—they’re only tracking us from the lead ship.”

Rose nodded, but Finley could see her mind was far away again, pondering the problem.

“But hyperspace tracking takes a lot of computing power,” she said. “The whole fleet would have to be computer banks, which is crazy. Unless..."

“Unless what?” Finley asked warily.

“A static hyperspace field generator,” Rose realized. “That’s how they’re doing it.”

“A what now?” Finley's head hurt, and it just wasn't because of the stun gun.

“Instead of adding lots of computers, you add lots of processing cycles,” Rose explained, rolling her eyes. “You do that by surrounding the computers with a hyperspace field generator. You could speed them up a billionfold... assuming nothing melts or gets accelerated right through the ship’s hull. It’s theoretical stuff—super-advanced tech. But if  
anyone could make it work, it’s the First Order.”

“So they’ve made it work," Finley asked. "How do we make it not work?”

Rose looked at her appraisingly, as if seeing her in a new light. She started to say something, but then stopped herself.

“You’re going to say ‘but.’ I can tell," Finley tilted her head at her. "You’ve got that going-to-say-but look.”

“ _But_ ,” Rose said, her brow wrinkling. “We can’t get to the tracker. It’s an A-class process, they’ll control it from the main bridge.”

“No,” Finley said, and Rose gave her another one of those looks. “I mean yes, but every A-class process—”

This time she was the one who followed the thought to its logical conclusion and voiced it along with her: “—has a dedicated power breaker.”

“But who knows where the breaker room would be on a Star Destroyer?” Rose asked.

Finley tapped her chest. “The chick who used to mop it. Deep in the subengine complex. If I can get us there—”

Rose tapped her own chest. “I could shut their tracker down.”

Rose looked at Finley, first with excitement and then with suspicion.

"Look, let's just go to talk to Poe Dameron about the plan and see what he says," Finley pleaded. "If he says no then you can stun me, okay?

“I totally will, you know," Rose growled.

"I don't doubt it," replied Finley, watching as Rose made up her mind.

“I don’t know why I’m trusting you,” Rose said with narrowed eyes.

Finley grinned. "Is it my pretty face?

"Don't push it, or I'll stun you again just for the hell of it."

***

They had found him in Leia's chambers, which had been converted into a makeshift medcenter. She lay motionless on a gurney, surrounded by instruments and tended to by medical droids. Threepio hovered nervously nearby, while BB-8 was circling the room, beeping mournfully.

Poe was reluctant at first, but once Finley got him up to speed, he seemed to be very interested.

Rose had found the holoprojector built into the Leia’s desk and activated it, displaying a schematic of a Mega-Destroyer.

"... if we can sneak on board that lead Destroyer and disable the tracker without getting caught—” Finley began.

“—they won’t realize it’s off for one systems cycle,” Rose cut in. “About six minutes.”

“That buys the Resistance fleet a quick window to jump to hyperspace untracked,” Finley finished.

“And escape!” Threepio exclaimed. “Brilliant!”

Poe considered cautiously, ticking the bullet points off on his fingers. “Sneak on board. Turn off the tracker. Our fleet escapes before they realize.”

"If she can get us to the tracker, I can shut it down. I think it would work," Rose insisted.

Poe considered that, then looked up at them. “How did you two meet?”

Rose grinned at the look of panic that crossed Finley's face.

Privately, Finley was worried about Poe finding out exactly how they met. On top of their confused feelings for each other, it would've turned ugly.

“Just luck,” Rose said.

Finley sighed in relief.

“Good luck?” Poe asked.

Rose glanced at Finley. “Not sure yet.”

Poe continued to chew it over, his gaze returning to the unconscious Leia.

“Poe, this will save the fleet and help Ben,” Finn said. “We have to do it.”

 _Ben Ben Ben_. Rose really wanted to stun her again.

Poe must have felt the same way because he gritted his teeth and replied with "If it helps the fleet..."

“If I must be the sole voice of reason, Admiral Holdo will never approve this plan,” Threepio warned. “In fact, it’s exactly the sort of brash heroics that would particularly infuriate her.”

“You’re right, Threepio," Poe replied sarcastically. "The plan is need-to-know. And she doesn’t.”

“That wasn’t exactly what I—” the protocol droid objected as BB-8 whistled approvingly.

“All right, you guys shut down that tracker, and I’ll be here to jump us to lightspeed,” Poe decided. “How do we sneak the two of you onto Snoke’s Destroyer?”

“We steal a First Order shuttle,” Rose said.

Finley’s face fell. “No good, we need clearance codes.”

“So we steal clearance codes,” Rose reasoned, scowling. 

“They’re biohexacrypted and rescramble every hour,” Finley shook her head. “It’s impossible. Their security shields are airtight. We can’t get through them undetected. Nobody can.”

****

<Could I do it?> Maz Kanata's hologram asked. She looked busy. As in "in immediate danger" busy. <Of course I could do it. But I can’t do it. I’m a little tied down right now.>

“Maz, what is happening?” Finley asked.

<Union dispute—you don’t want to hear about it.> Maz replied. <But lucky for you, there’s exactly one guy I trust who can get you past that kind of security. A master codebreaker, a soldier, freedom fighter, and ace pilot. A poet with a blaster—and the second-best smuggler I’ve ever met.>

“Oh!” said Threepio. “It sounds like this fellow can do everything!”

<Oh yes he can...> Maz purred.

Poe and Rose glanced questioningly at Finley. She shrugged. Like Maz's relationship with Chewbacca: she didn't really want to know.

<And he’s sympathetic to the Resistance,” Maz continued. <You’ll find him at Canto Bight, on Cantonica.>

“Cantonica?” asked Poe. “But that’s... Maz, is there any way we can do this ourselves?”  
  
<Sorry, kiddo.> Maz ducked some blaster fire. <This is rarefied cracking. You want on that Destroyer, you’ve got one option—find the Master Codebreaker. You’ll recognize him by the red plom bloom on his lapel.>

She activated the jetpack she was wearing, cutting the transmission as she ascended. 

The three stared at the empty holoprojector in silence.

This plan just kept on getting more and more complicated.


	27. Bonds

**Luke Skywalker's Island, Ahch-To**

Luke Skywalker hurried through the night, as stealthy and silent as only a Jedi could be, so much so that the always alert Chewbacca didn't notice him as he roasted a bird-like porg on a spit over a crackling fire, the shadow of the Millennium Falcon behind him.

Luke typically left those birds alone. Terribly sentimental. He remembered the first time he roasted one and a whole bunch of them came to investigate the smell and saw their charred brother up on the spit. The obscenely pathetic look they gave him... a roar from Chewbacca as Luke made his way up the ramp told him that he porgs gave him "the look".

But that wasn't why he was here.

Luke walked slowly through the corridors of the Falcon, unsuccessfully resisting the wave of nostalgia as his boots echoed familiarly the decking and the scent of cooling and burning circuitry filled his nostrils.

Since the moment Ben had mentioned Han and their ship about flying it, Luke’s thoughts had been straying to the old rust-bucket of a ship, sitting on the ancient stone at the foot of the island, until finally he’d been unable to resist a visit.

The Falcon had taken him away from Tatooine decades ago—thrusting an unassuming farm boy into the middle of a galactic civil war and the ancient spiritual battle of Jedi and Sith.

Luke stepped into the cockpit, standing behind the pilot’s chair that had been the closest thing to home for Han. The Ahch-To moonlight gleamed on the pair of golden dice hanging overhead and he gently removed them, turning them this way and that with his mechanical fingers.

The main hold was dim and quiet. Luke gazed at the dejarik table, his eyes lingering on a familiar helmet and blast shield.

Luke resisted the flood of memories as a string of familiar interrogative beeps came from the shadows, interrupting his thoughts

“Artoo?” Luke asked, and a moment later the blue-and-white astromech rolled into view, chirping and whistling at length.

“Yes,” Luke said. Decades of missions with R2-D2 had left him reasonably fluent in droidspeak, but the astromech’s list of accusations was both lengthy and highly specific. “No, I—yeah, it’s true."

R2-D2 squawked derisively.

“Hey, sacred island,” Luke said. “Watch the language.”

The droid replied with a plaintive whine.

“Old friend, I wish I could make you understand. I’m not coming back," Luke rested his hand on Artoo's dome. "Nothing can change my mind.”

The droid responded by activating its holographic projector.

Luke’s breath caught at the sight of his sister as he’d first seen her—robed in white, pleading for Obi-Wan Kenobi’s help.

"Leia..." Luke swallowed.

" _Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi..."_ Leia's voice played on a loop.

"Old Ben," Luke muttered. His thoughts inevitably strayed to the old Master's namesake. "Ben..."

“That’s a cheap move,” he chided the droid, who beeped smugly.

The recording vanished, leaving Luke and R2-D2 alone. The little astromech remained still as his former master stared into nothingness. And he stayed silent as Luke rose and made his way into the corridor and down the ramp, his footsteps slow and deliberate.

***

Ben Solo could hardly sleep. And years on the move had allowed him to sleep anywhere, at anytime. But the makeshift cot where he chose to lay his six foot three body down was especially uncomfortable.

That's why when Ben heard the slightest noise, he woke with a start, his hand hovering over his blaster.

It was just Luke.

"Uncle?" Ben grumbled.

Above him, Luke's face was drawn and pale in the moonlight. “Tomorrow, at dawn. I've taught you the ways of the Jedi. Now I will teach you why they need to end.”

***

**The _Supremacy_ , Deep Space**

Kira Ren slashed at the energy bolt shooting training ball inside the Supremacy's training chamber, ruminating on her failures, on her roiling emotions.

She had meditated on it, and through meditation, came up with the source of her failure: Ben Solo.

 _Ben_.

She imagined the training ball was Ben Solo. It was because of him she had failed. It was because of him that she was tempted by the Light.

It was because of him she found that she couldn't kill Leia Organa, general of the Resistance. She was his mother, Kira realized. 

She couldn't take his mother. She couldn't take his mother after she had taken his father.

A trail of bodies lay in her wake. Her hands were as red with blood as the crimson of her lightsabers. And she no regrets, no remorse for any of them. 

Except for Han Solo. Except for Leia Organa.

She felt his pain. Ben Solo's pain. She had been reminded of that pain when her thumb hovered over the trigger...

Sentiment. Damned, cursed sentiment.

She slashed and slashed at the training ball. But still she saw him. Still--

Suddenly, Kira felt and odd tingle at the back of her neck.

She was not alone.

Kira deactivated the ball and turned.

Her eyes widened.

***Ben Solo's hut, Luke Skywalker's Island, Ahch-To***

Ben's eyes blinked open.

Kira Ren stood just a man's length before him, her twin lightsabers poised at her sides 

Ben didn't think. He didn't hesitate like the last time. He reached for his blaster and shot at her.

Kira reacted swiftly, slashing at the bolt to deflect it. However, to both of their surprises, the bolt passed right through her and the lightsabers!

Ben leapt up from his bed and burst out the door of the hut and into the dawn, expecting an invasion, or perhaps a reason how why and how Kira Ren appeared in his hut.

Kira practically skidded to halt to meet him outside of the hut, seemingly out of nowhere.

She raised her hand at shoulder level, commanding "You will bring Luke Skywalker to me!"

Ben braced for the mental invasion, but it never came. Kira scowled and her arm hung by her side.

Ben scrutinized her. "How are you doing this? The effort alone would kill you. "

"What?" Kira snapped. "How are _you_ doing this?!"

"Can you see my surroundings?" Ben asked, growing genuinely concerned. If she demanded to know where Luke was, then she had to know he had found him!

Kira snarled at him. Her lightsabers were deactivated, but still clenched in her shaking fists.

“I can’t see your's —just you,” Ben said. “So no, this is something else.”

That was when Luke emerged from his hut, blinking at the morning light.

Ben whipped around to face his uncle, fighting his growing panic. Would Kira see Luke? Would she somehow know where the last of the Jedi was? 

When he turned back, Kira’s expression told him instantly that while she might not have seen Luke, she had seen his reaction—and understood what it meant.

“Luke?” she asked, her eyes confused, angry, and eager all at once.

“What’s this about?” asked Luke.

Ben’s eyes returned to the Jedi Master’s face, expecting to see him ready to fight or confront Kira, but Luke just looked puzzled—until, to his horror, Luke pointed past him, directly at where this strange visitation stood.

Ben forced himself to follow his gaze, but Kira was gone.

Luke was pointing at the hole in the side of Ben's hut.

Kira was gone, but he and Luke weren’t alone. Half a dozen aliens had emerged from the mist and were milling about the huts, one of them inspecting the damaged wall in consternation.

Ben knew immediately that these new arrivals were real—and that they were no threat to him.

They looked like walking fish with three-toed feet, their stout bodies hidden beneath simple robes of beige and white. 

Ben realized Luke was still waiting for an answer to his question. And so were the aliens.

Ben’s first instinct was to tell him the truth, but something told him that would be a mistake. Their relationship was tense enough as it was. He didn't need him to reject him now before they began talking again

No, he had to tell him something else.

“I, uh...was cleaning my blaster,” Ben managed. “It went off."

Ben bit his lip nervously. How many times did he use that excuse when he snuck Tai into his dorm at the temple?

Luke didn’t look any less puzzled by that explanation, but the aliens seemed to accept it, albeit grumpily.

As the aliens angrily set to work patching up the hole,  
Luke inclined his chin at the stairs climbing higher up the mountain.

As Ben turned to follow him, one of the aliens glowered at him then turned.

Ben responded in an alien language. The alien looked dubiously at him, but nonetheless set back to work.

Bemused, Ben followed Luke up the winding steps until he thought they were out of earshot of the activity around the huts.

"What were those things?” Ben asked.

“The Lanai. Caretakers,” Luke replied. “Island natives. They’ve kept up the Jedi structures since they were built.”

“What did you tell them about me?” she asked.

Luke gave him a thin smile. “My nephew."

“Oh. I don’t think they like me," Ben observed.

“Can’t imagine what gave you that idea," snarked Luke.

Ben followed Luke across the grassy saddle above the huts and then up another set of winding stone steps. This staircase followed a rocky prominence that loomed above the island and the sea beyond.

As he climbed those steps, Ben's thoughts traveled to Kira Ren. 

_Rey._

They had always had something of a kinship. A connection. A connection that had ultimately been severed when he thought she died in the temple disaster.

Seeing her alive and grown again on Takodana and then Starkiller... being in each other's head...

Perhaps their connection ran deeper than he thought. The Force worked in mysterious ways.

In what ways, Ben was unsure of. And he wasn't sure he wanted to find out.


	28. The First Lesson

As he followed Luke up the steps, Ben saw that the stairway ended in a cave in the side of the peak.

Ben followed Luke inside, where an ancient mosaic was still visible in the middle of the stone floor. But this wasn’t their destination—Luke led him out onto a pair of ledges, one high and one low. It was a dizzying vantage point from which the island seemed to fall away into the endless sea surrounding them.

Luke watched him for a moment, idly twisting a reed in his hand.

Ben grinned. "You can put that reed away. You know I'm not going to fall for that old padawan trick where you'd whack our hands if we actually reach out with our hands when you tell us to "reach out" with the Force."

The corners of Luke's grizzled mouth tugged into a tiny grin and he threw the reed out over the cliff.

"Well," Luke said, crossing his arms. "Remind me what you know about the Force."

"Well... it's a superpower that Jedi have," Ben said straightly. "It let's them control people and makes things float."

Luke rolled his eyes. " _Ben_."

"Fine, fine," Ben grumbled. "You're no fun."

"We're not here for fun," Luke reminded him. "If I was here for fun I'd still be asleep."

Ben was about to say something snarky but he held his tongue as Luke looked at him expectantly for the real answer.

"It's an energy between all things-- a tension, a balance that binds the universe together," Ben recited from memory.

"Very good," Luke praised. He gestured to the higher of the two ledges. "Sit here, legs crossed.”

Ben settled himself on the higher of the two ledges, arranging his long legs awkwardly in a crisscross position.

“Close your eyes,” Luke told him. “Breathe. Now reach out.”  
  
Ben closed his eyes and centered himself. He hadn't fully open himself to the Force in over eight years.

“Breathe,” Luke instructed. “Just breathe. Now reach out with your feelings. What do you see?”

The image came to him almost immediately: the island, seen as if he were one of the seabirds overhead. “The island."

Carrying along the song of birds, a warm breeze brushed along grass and flowers in a meadow. “Life.”

The remains of a long-dead creature rested far below the surface of that same grass, its decomposed carcass providing the rich black soil with nutrients encouraging seeds to sprout and grow. “Death and decay…that feeds new life.”

The atmospheric vapor dissipated in the in the heat of the two suns, their light bathing the face of a mountain. “Warmth.”

But where one side basked in light, the other lied in shadow, further chilled by the ocean’s spray. “Cold.”

A mother porg spread her wings over her newly hatched young, protecting them, from danger. “Peace.”

Somewhere else, a roaring wave trounced a vacated porg nest, destroying it and washing the remnants out to sea. “Violence.”

“And between it all?” Luke prompted softly.

“A balance... an energy,” Ben murmured. “A Force.”

“And inside you?” Luke pressed.

Ben smiled. It was like coming home after years abroad. “Inside me, that same Force.”

“And this is the lesson—that Force does not belong to the Jedi,” Luke insisted, his features full of passion. “To say that if the Jedi die, the Light dies is vanity. Can you feel that? Can you understand that?”

He could. But a new presence was calling to his reawakened senses.

“There’s something here,” Ben pointed out. “Right here. A powerful light—blinding.”

“This is the first Jedi temple,” Luke nodded. “A concentration of light.”

“But there’s something else,” Ben said, realizing. “Beneath the island. A place—a dark place.”

He could see it now, in his mind’s eye. Rocky flats by the sea, ominous and cold. With a dark hole in the rock ...

“Balance,” Luke said, and there was a twinge of concern in his voice. “Powerful light, powerful darkness.”

“It’s cold," Ben trembled. "It’s calling me!"

The ledge trembled beneath him, and the dust and rocks fell from the cliffs around them.

“Resist it,” Luke urged him. “Ben, fight it!”

Dimly, Ben heard his uncle's voice calling his name. But it faded away to nothing, until all Ben could hear was the roaring of water. He stood on the cold, rocky shore from his vision, moving as if hypnotized toward a black hole before him—the source of that roar.

The roaring sound built, reaching a crescendo as water shot out of the rock.

With a start, Ben found himself on the ledge, gasping for breath, feeling like he’d been dragged out of deep  
water.

His face was wet. At first he thought it was his imagination or a residual effects from the vision, but his hair was dripping, and he could taste salt on his tongue.

Luke's eyes were wary—and fixed intensely on him.

“That place can show me something,” Ben managed to explain. “It was trying to.”

“You went straight to the dark,” Luke accused. “It offered you something you needed and you didn’t even try to stop yourself. You. Of all people, Ben! _You_ should have known better!”

The words bit into Ben. He should have known better. The evil, malignant voices that haunted his childhood were but a distant memory by now, thanks in no small part to Luke himself.

But while those voices were of a malevolent entity, with its own unknown machinations. The darkness from the island that called him felt... bigger. Impartial and harshly truthful.

Exactly what he needed.

Luke turned his back on him, but Ben reached out a shaky hand to stop him. “I saw everything. But I didn’t see you. Nothing from you. You’ve closed yourself off from the Force.”

Luke stared at him, his face pale and drawn. "Yes. But even as removed from the Force as I am, I can still see the darkness shadow your every step. You say that you fear your destiny... after what you've shown me today... I do too."

Ben's face fell and he downcast his gaze to the cracked rock underneath him for a moment and then back to where Luke had stood, but by the time he looked up, he saw that Luke had gone, disappearing into the darkness of the ancient temple.


	29. Conflict

**The _Raddus_ , Deep Space**

From his vantage point on the periphery of the _Raddus_ ’s secondary bridge, Poe shifted from foot to foot and kept a wary eye on Holdo and suppressed the urge to find a reason to march back down to the hangar where he’d left Rose and Finn. 

All was ready, or should be. He had friends all over the ship, many of whom shared his unease about their new commander. Still, when the alert finally sounded on an operations monitor’s console, Poe nearly jumped through the viewport.

“What was that?” Holdo demanded, looking up.

“Nothing, Admiral,” Connix said. “Passing debris.”

Holdo, satisfied, returned to her work. Connix looked up and shared a conspiratorial nod with Poe. The shuttle had launched.

Poe's focus turned to Holdo, so much so he hardly noticed Connix's gaze linger on him seconds longer before she turned back to her console.

“The smaller ships will run out of fuel first,” Holdo said. “We need to begin evacuating their crews to the flagship. Starting with the medical frigate.”

Poe surveyed the auxillary bridge. Connix wasn’t the only one who had her doubts. He saw rigid backs, tight jaws, and vacant eyes everywhere. It was a commander’s job to sense that, to read her bridge and her people. Holdo either couldn’t or wouldn’t.

And it made Poe angry. Leia had built the Resistance despite everything. Despite every obstacle and lack of resource. And now Holdo—someone Leia had trusted—seemed determined to undo all her work.

“So we abandon the _Anodyne_ ,” Poe said. “What changes after that, Admiral? What happens when there are no ships left to abandon?”

Holdo fixed Poe with her gaze.

“You want a daring plan,” she hissed. “Dashing hero, derring-do, single-handed day-saving. That’s what you want?”

“I just want to know the plan,” Poe said helplessly. “I think we all do.”

“And at the appropriate time, you will,” Holdo said. “But just so we’re clear: There will be no idiot heroics, daring plans, or showy bombing runs on my watch.”

Poe’s frustrations boiled over. “You’re going to destroy everything Leia has built.”

“Captain Dameron. If you’re here to serve a princess, I’ll assign you to bedpan duty,” Holdo replied coolly. “If you’re here to serve the Resistance, follow my orders. Somebody has to save this fleet from its heroes.”

And with that she turned back to her monitor, dismissing him.

Poe, stunned, looked around the auxiliary bridge and found no other officer would meet his gaze.

***

 **Resistance Shuttle, Cantonica Atmosphere**

Rose and Finley's shuttle emerged from hyperspace above the desert planet of Cantonica, an almost featureless globe broken by a single blue sea that reminded Finley unsettlingly of an eye, staring into the void.

“So. What kind of game are you playing with Poe?” Rose asked.

The two hadn't spoken much other than the mission specs, so the question surprised Finley and she snapped her head towards Rose.

"What?"

"You wear his jacket. You have his trust and fancy," Rose accused. "Yet you nearly threw that all away to fly into the arms of a man halfway across the galaxy."

"That's not it at all," Finley growled.

"Then what is it?" asked Rose acidly.

Finley huffed indignantly. "I told you my reasons. That should be good enough for you."

"It's not," Rose snapped as they entered the atmosphere.

Finley spun around in her chair to look at Rose, who stared straight ahead as they passed the beige desert towards blue ocean where Canto Bight was.

"I'm not playing a game with anyone!" snapped Finley. "I made myself clear. I want to make sure the people that helped me out are safe. After that, I'm getting as far away from the First Order as I can."

Rose stared daggers at her, but didn't question her any further.

Her gaze settled back ahead as they passed over the ocean towards the resort oasis of Canto Bight.

Finley decided a change of conversation was an order. "You know this town? Canto Bight?"

“From stories,” Rose replied. “It’s a terrible place filled with the vilest people in the galaxy. You'd fit right in.”

Finley was about to retort when she heard an odd noise coming from the shuttle's toilet.

They looked at each other for a moment and Finley rushed past her and peered into the tiny space where the noise came from.

BB-8 had jammed itself inside, and greeted Finley with a cheerful string of beeps. Was it her imagination, or did the astromech look a bit smug?

"BB-8!" cried Finley, squatting down to help pry the stuck droid out.

"Poe's droid?" Rose asked as she landed the craft somewhere on the massive island. "What's he doing here?"

The droid chirped out another string of beeps.

Finley didn't understand, but Rose got up and joined them.

"I understand droidspeak," Rose said. "BB-8 wants to help his friend Finley save the fleet."

Finley patted the droid's circular head. "BB-8 and I go back a little way, right buddy?"

The droid beeped in the affirmative.

Rose looked uncertainly at them. "Droids are usually good judges of character. Usually. Maybe he's defective. "

Finley stood up and grinned at Rose as BB-8 trailed her feet like a housecat waiting to be fed. "Maybe he is. But at least he's actually trying to be helpful."

With that, Finley brushed past Rose and towards the shuttle's exit, leaving the Resistance technician fuming.

***

**Luke Skywalker's Island, Ahch-To**

Ben hurried through the _Millennium Falcon_ 's corridors, shaking the rain out of his long hair. He had a lot on his mind, and was wondering if his mother was having better luck than he was on her end.

Ben found Chewbacca in the _Falcon’_ s cockpit, fussing with the freighter’s hypertransceiver.

“Still can’t reach the Resistance?” Ben asked.

The Wookiee barked in frustration.

“Keep at it,” Ben sighed. “If you get through, ask their status, and... ask about Finley.”

Chewbacca promised he would and Ben worked his way back to the slick ramp, wiping the rain off his forehead.

Ben wondered if he should have asked about the dozen or so porgs perched on the dashboard, watching the Wookiee work—or the porg that had been perched on his hairy shoulder like a parrot on an overgrown pirate.

He chuckled a little. Despite his fearsome appearance, Chewie was always a big softie. He probably tried to eat one and then had a change of heart and befriended them.

At least Uncle Chewie was getting along with the island's inhabitants.

***

It was raining harder now, and Ben lingered under the _Falcon_ for shelter. All it did was fucking rain on this miserable island. He should have just stayed on the _Falcon_ with Uncle Chewie and the porgs, but he wanted to be alone. In his mood, there was something about the porgs' big, curious eyes that made him want to punt them and he wasn't sure Chewie would have appreciated that.

Almost on cue, as if to spite him, something tickled at his awareness and he stared out suspicion into the gray sea.

Kira Ren was staring at him. She didn't glare at him, nor act aggressively towards him in any way. She just eyeballed him curiously, as if he was an old acquaintance that dropped by unexpectedly.

Ben however, had plenty of time to ruminate over their odd connection and his bittersweet first lesson, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he got.

"Why is the Force connecting us?" Kira mused. "You and I?"

"There is no "You and I"," Ben snapped.

Kira came closer and Ben flinched, but refused to give ground.

“There once was,” she said, peering at him. Ben realized she could see the spray bouncing up from the stone and hitting him. “A long time ago. We can still be together. It's not too late.”

“It _is_ too late,” Ben spat. "You lost. I found Luke.”

“How’s that going?” Kira asked, amused. Then her eyes flashed. “Has he told you what happened, the night the temple was destroyed? Has he told you why?”

“I know everything there is to know about you, Rey,” Ben countered.

“You do?” she asked, and peered at him, eyes intent. “ _You do_. You have the same look in your eyes from the forest. After your father died."

"You killed my father," Ben hissed.

"Your father shot first! I was defending myself!" Kira countered. Her eyes glistened. "His death was regrettable... I do wish I could take it back."

She came within a foot or two of Ben, and he wondered what would happen if he refused to move and they intersected. Would he find himself in her mind again, and have to endure her presence in his? Could they actually touch, across a galaxy?

Ben found he didn't care. He saw the beginnings of tears. He didn't care about them either. He just wanted her to suffer the way he was suffering.

“You're a monster,” Ben replied, his voice full of venom.

Kira stared back at him—and he found her eyes full of hurt and conflict.

“Yes, I am,” Kira said miserably, and then she was gone, leaving Ben watching the waves breaking on the stone.

Ben stared into the heaving sea, his spite and anger burning out into a sudden sense of conflict and regret.

He then felt another tingle of awareness. He turned, looking up at the island, into the rain, and saw  
Luke waiting for him.

***

In the metal heart of the _Supremacy_ , Kira stood and stared at the place Ben had been. She felt something strange and looked down at her bare hand.

There was water on her palm. Whether it was from whatever planet Ben Solo was or her own eyes, she did not know.

She swallowed back her tears and then balled her hand into a fist to hide it from her sight.


	30. Canto Bight

**Canto Bight, Cantonica**

Finley fell in love with Canto Bight the moment they saw it.

From the blue sea, dotted with sleek yachts, and the graceful curve of the crescent bay, lined with stately, luxurious hotels, it was far fancier than anything she had ever seen.

Beyond them, the town sparkled like a jewel, with its broad boulevards surrounding a modern complex of tile and black glass, bathed in shimmering light of every spectrum. Beyond the complex was a warren of low stone buildings, crisscrossed by narrow, warmly lit streets.

They had landed the shuttle at the beach and hurried hurried up to the boardwalk, heading for the lights of the casino.

They crossed the tree-lined piazza in front of the Canto Casino and Racetrack, and after Finley nearly got hit by two luxury speeders— driven by organic chauffeurs no less, not droids, the three made their way up the entryway to the casino, dodging the warning flickers from parked speeders’ anti-theft  
fields.

Finley sidestepped a hustling valet and looked from the elaborate, scented gardens to the holo-marquees greeting visitors.

“They’ve got a luxury hotel and a shopping concourse,” she marveled. “And twenty-two restaurants. How are we going to find the Master Codebreaker in all this?”

“Maybe he’ll find us,” Rose replied, hurrying as liveried attendants grandly swept the double doors open. “All he has to do is look for the two rubes dressed like greasy speeder jockeys.”

Finley saw immediately what she meant. They were surrounded by humans and aliens of every conceivable species, all dressed in immaculate and elegant garments of the latest high-class fashion of their respective planets, their assorted appendages dripped in jewels of every hue.

The rainbow of color and wealth was so overwhelming that even the most extraordinary outfit barely registered—but every eye seemed drawn to Finleys dirty, stitched-up jacket and Rose’s maintenance jumpsuit.

Finn wanted to hide, but Rose simply looked around dismissively, deflecting an attendant’s offer of assistance.

Then she squared her shoulders and marched across the lobby, with Finley rushing after her.

To her surprise, though, the casino’s staff treated them with the same extravagant groveling as the guests wearing the outrageously expensive outfits.

Arms beckoned in welcome and greetings were offered in rapid-fire Outer Rim tongues as the two ladies strolled onto the main casino floor, BB-8 rolling along behind them.

“This place is great!” Finley exclaimed.

“No, it is not,” Rose muttered.

“Are you kidding? Yes. It. Is. Look at—look! And look!”

Rose glared at the rows of gaming tables, where laughing groups were wagering stacks of Cantocoins; to the spins of the jubilee wheel and rounds of hazard toss and gamblers at slot machines.

Bartenders juggled cocktail shakers, dealers in green tarbooshes and matching vests offered congratulations or sympathy, and server droids stepped carefully through the crowds, politely dipping heads as they nimbly rotated drink trays out of the path of the overserved and inattentive.

“Let’s find the Master Codebreaker and get out of here,” Rose grumbled, shooing away a small, dark-eyed alien in evening wear that tried to use BB-8 as a gambling machine.

They pushed through the throngs of guests, hunting at each table for the crimson splash of a red plom bloom. Frustrated, Rose finally jumped on a table so she could scan the entire floor.

“What are you doing?” Finley asked, nervously eyeing a couple of surley-looking aliens in dull-black clothing who had to have been security.

“Our mission, remember? Stop drooling all over the scenery, stop pining for Ben, and get with it!" snapped Rose.

“I was not pining for Ben, okay?!” Finley objected.

Rose looked scornful. “Heavy pining. _Heavy_. You were ready to abandon the Resistance to help him. How can one person mean more to you than a whole cause?”

Finley looked away from the luxury to glare at Rose. “I was raised in an army to fight for a cause. Then I met Ben. And for the first time I had someone I cared about enough to fight for. But I am _not_ into him like _that_. I'm not into anybody like that. Not Poe, not Ben. No one!"

Rose’s face softened. “When he comes back, will he be a Jedi like in the stories? Brown robes, little rat tail?”

Finley shrugged. "He once was. Then something bad happened and he became a smuggler. Now... I don't know."

Rose looked skeptically at her before returning to her glowering appraisal of the wealthy gamblers around them.

“Maybe he realized that there was a cause bigger than himself or one person that he needed to fight for.” Rose pointed out. “You need to find yours.”

With that, Finley fell silent, and the two continued to look for the Master Codebreaker.

***

Rose had retreated to a bar on the side of the casino floor that was open to the evening breeze, glaring at a the wealthy patrons as she scanned for the Master Codebreaker to no avail.

“I think we’ve covered the whole casino,” Finley said, approaching her. “Where is this guy?”

Suddenly a blur of motion and a thunderous clatter filled the space behind the bar, rattling the glasses and bottles.

"Were those what I think they were?” Rose asked wonderingly.

She rushed through a door, and Finley hurried after her.

“Hey, what happened to not getting distracted?” Finley asked.

They found themselves on a balcony overlooking an oval racetrack, adjoining the casino. Spectators were cheering the twelve jockeys in iridescent livery that were perched atop animals with tawny hides, long ears, and streaming tails.

“What are those things?” Finley asked, finding herself admiring the animals, too.

“Fathiers,” Rose said, entranced. “They were my sister’s favorite animal when we were kids. She never got to see a real one. So beautiful..."

“Look, this whole place is beautiful,” Finley said. “I mean, come on. Why do you hate it so much?”

“Look closer,” Rose suggested.

Finley spotted a pair of electrobinoculars mounted on the balcony railing and peered through them. She watched as the jockeys’ electro-whips rose and fell, their ruthless strokes aimed at extracting more speed from the exhausted mounts of their fathiers as they raced through the home stretch.

Without taking her eyes off the racing fathiers, Rose reached into the top of her jumpsuit and extracted a medallion she wore on a cord around her neck.

“My sister and I grew up in a poor mining system,” Rose said, tears welling in her eyes. “The First Order stripped our ore to finance their military, then shelled us to test their weapons. They took everything we had.”

Finley looked up and found Rose clutching her medallion, pale with anger. She waved one arm accusingly at the cheering gamblers in the grandstand below.

“And who do you think these people are?” she asked him. “There’s only one business in the galaxy that will get you this rich.”

“War,” Finley murmured.

“Selling weapons to the First Order,” Rose seethed. “I wish I could put my fist through this whole lousy beautiful town.

Finley didn’t know what to say. As she searched for an answer, BB-8 rolled up to them, its spherical body rattling strangely and beeping frantically.

"Red plom bloom?” Rose exclaimed. “Where?!”


	31. Hubris of the Jedi

**Luke Skywalker's Island, Ahch-To**

Ben Solo stood opposite an outcropping of rock, staring at the hilt of his family's lightsaber.

Before the duel on Starkiller, he hadn't touched a lightsaber much less practiced with one for over eight years. He was long overdue for a practice session.

He focused on the rocky outcropping as a target. He imagined it was Kira Ren, poised to attack with her twin lightsabers.

He was rusty, that was for sure. But the exertion also helped blow away the island fog and the frustration that had enveloped him. 

The lightsaber seemed alive in his hands somehow—as if something inside it were simultaneously focusing his strength and guiding his movements.

His sense of the energy around him felt heightened, and the hum of the blade seemed to resonate with the currents of the Force surrounding him, amplifying them.

There was only the motion of his body and the lightsaber, moving as one. Thrusting and parrying, wheeling and weaving, until the distinction blurred between weapon and wielder.

“Impressive,” came Luke's voice.

The sound of his voice jerked him out of his trance. Turning to look at him, Ben stumbled slightly, his slash continuing so it intersected rock instead of just empty air.

The lightsaber bisected the outcropping he’d been practicing on and the top half slid away over the edge of the cliff.

Dirt, rock, and tufts of grass flew into the air, along with a few rather indignant porgs.

As Luke watched in amusement, Ben deactivated the saber and peeked over the cliff, grimacing at his mistake.

The massive stone had obliterated a Caretaker’s cart and left a broad scar all the way down to the sea like a meteor. Below, two Caretakers chattered in dismay, then stared up at him disapprovingly.

"Whoops."

***

The suns were dipping toward the horizon as Ben and Luke entered the Jedi temple, facing each other across the font in the center of the ancient space.

“So,” Ben began, clapping and rubbing his hands.

“So.”

Ben shook his head. “Nope, you start this time.”

“I’ve shown you that you don’t need the Jedi to use the Force,” Luke obliged. “So why do you need the Jedi Order?”

Ben peered at him. Surely this was another one of his tests.   
  
“To fight the rising darkness,” Ben replied. “They kept the peace and protected the Light in the galaxy for a thousand generations. Together, we can protect the Light for another generation and lay the groundwork for generations to come."

Luke smiled and studied the mosaic in the floor. He wondered how long ago it had been created, and by whose hands.

“Did you rehearse that?” Luke snarked. "That was a very nice speech."

Ben scowled at him.

“Lesson Two," Luke held up a pair of fingers in a "V". "Now that they’re extinct, the Jedi are romanticized—deified. But if you strip away the myth and look at their deeds, from the birth of the Sith to the fall of the Republic, the legacy of the Jedi is failure. Hypocrisy. Hubris."

“Bullshit,” Ben protested, crossing his arms. If Luke was the last of the Order, the galaxy needed him to be its custodian. The galaxy had no shortage of those who wanted to see the Jedi discredited and buried and forgotten. What he was doing was a slap in the face of everyone who came before him.

“At the height of their powers they allowed Darth Sidious to rise, create the Empire, and wipe them out,” Luke said. “It was a Jedi Master who was responsible for the training and creation of Darth Vader."

"And a Jedi who saved him!” Ben objected. “You! My uncle! You saw there was conflict in him. You believed that he wasn’t gone, he could be turned.”

Ben shook his head. He didn’t understand. It was troubling enough that Luke had rejected the legacy  
of the Jedi. But whatever happened that night at the temple had led him to reject his own legacy as well.

Not for the first time, Ben wondered if he had slipped into madness during his years of exile. But the his uncle didn’t look insane. Just profoundly sad.

“And then I became a legend. For many years there was balance. I took no Padawans, and no darkness rose," Luke sighed. "But when Snoke came for you, I knew I had to intervene and teach you the ways of the Force, to save you from the darkness. Then I realized there were more in the galaxy who could have used my guidance."

"The start of the temple," Ben said, nostalgic.

Luke's eyes were far away now. Ben wondered if he relived those dark times every day, brooding on the top of the island as when they first renuited-- or if he never did, and that it was his arrival that had forced him to confront the events that had caused him to shut himself away from everyione.

"When we took Rey in, I knew there was something special about her," Luke continued.

"There was," Ben agreed. "She was so strong in the Force for her age. A natural."

Ben found himself longing for that time with her again. By the time Luke spoke again, he dreaded his next words.

"Yes," Luke said regretfully. "But by the time I realized Snoke had sensed that same strength in her, it was too late. He had turned her."

“What happened that night?" Ben asked. Rey's... Kira's words from their previous conversation rang in his head.

"When you came to me with your concerns about her change in demeanor, I went to see her," Luke explained. "She was asleep. When I went to rouse her, she awoke and brought the temple down on both of us."

Ben buried his face in his hands and dragged them down his mouth and jaw.

“She must have thought I was dead," Luke speculated. “When I came to, the temple was burning. She had vanished, and the rest of my students were slaughtered. You were gone. I thought I lost you too. All because I failed. Because I was Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master. A legend.”

He said that last word as if it were something terrible—a burden and a curse. But Ben held his gaze.

"Nobody blamed you," Ben said gently. "You didn't fail anyone. It was Snoke. He did that. He couldn't get me. So he took Rey instead."

For a long moment there was no sound but the wind. Then Ben felt it: Something was coming.

He stepped out onto the meditation ledge, high above the sea, and peered out at the horizon.

Six crude wooden ships were arrowing through the water toward the island.

Ben tensed. They’d been found!

“It’s a tribe from a neighboring island,” Luke said from behind him.

Ben's broad shoulders slumped with relief.

“They come once a month to raid and plunder the Caretakers’ village,” Luke added.

Ben hurried to the end of the ledge, seeking to trace their course. His heart began to pound. The ships were indeed bearing slightly north of them, perfectly positioned to skirt the headlands and land in the bay where the Caretakers’ huts huddled by the sea.

“Well, come on!” Ben urged Luke. “We’ve got to stop them!”

But Luke just stood on the ledge, contemplating the ships and the sea.

Ben stared at him in disbelief. “Come on!”

“Do you know what a true Jedi would do right now?” Luke asked, as if they had all the time in the world. “Nothing.”

“What?" Ben hissed. "This is not a lesson—they’re going to get hurt! We’ve got to help!”

“If you meet the raiding party with force, they’ll be back next month—with greater numbers and greater violence," Luke reasoned. "Will you be here next month?”

Frustrated, Ben watched the ships cutting through the water, every moment bringing them nearer to the helpless village.

Ben found himself hyperventilating. He remembered the temple. His father getting shot by Kira's deflected blast and the subsequent fatal blast. He remembered how helpless he felt. That he couldn't do anything, that he couldn't make it in time.

“That burn inside you, that anger thinking what the raiders are going to do?” Luke asked. “The books in the Jedi library say ignore that. Only act when you can maintain balance. Even if people get hurt.”

"Oh really?" Ben snapped. "Well, then fuck what a bunch of old books say!"

Ben shoved past Luke and squeezed through the entrance to the temple, taking off at a run down the ancient stairs.

“Wait!” he heard Luke call. “Ben!”

But Ben had waited long enough. He would wait no longer.


	32. The Master Codebreaker?

**Canto Bight, Cantonica**

Finley and Rose trepidatiously approached the table where BB-8 had claimed to have seen the Master Codebreaker.

Once they found the red plom blum on the white blazer of his immaculate gaberwool tuxedo, it wasn't hard to see how the Master Codebreaker earned his illustrious reputation.

A handsome human man, with a striking white streak in his hair and a thin, perfectly groomed mustache.   
He stood at one end of a gaming table, surrounded by riveted onlookers, cupping a pair of dice in one hand. Across from him grinned an older man of Finley's skin color with a gold and black shirt, draped with a luxurious black cape.

The Master Codebreaker winked at a beautiful woman in lace, then let the dice fly. They tumbled across the table and the onlookers roared in delight, and the older man with the cape grumbled in disappointment.

Time seemed to slow down as Finley made her way through the crowd, trailed by Rose and the rattling BB-8.

A sour-faced Abednedo stepped in front of them, right into Finley's personal space.

Puzzled and annoyed, Finley turned to brush past him.

“Yeah, these are the guys,” the Abednedo said.

Before Finley could protest or even make sense of what was happening, two police officers stepped forward, saying something about parking.

Finley wasn’t sure—she lost track of what they were saying when she saw the officers unclip their stun prods and raise them.

 _Oh shit, not again!_ , she thought a moment before the jolt of electricity shot through her, fading her vision to  
black.

***

After much protest, Finley and Rose were thrown into the gloomy jail cells of the Canto Bight Police Department.

"This is a big mistake!” Rose insisted, as the guard strolled past, aiming his glow rod at the prisoners in neighboring cells. “We didn’t do anything!”

“You landed your shuttle on a public beach,” the guard said, not even looking at her.

“Oh, I’m sorry—what, did we break the sand? You can’t break sand!” Rose pointed out.

The guard, unimpressed, continued his rounds.

“Hey, don’t—augggh,” Rose muttered as the guard turned the corner and disappeared.

Rose sagged against the bars. With the guard gone, Finley wedged herself in the corner of the cell and began to try and tinker with the lock mechanism, trying to remember infiltration techniques from her past First Order training.

Rose paced in tight circles, sizing up their surroundings. As far as she could tell, the prisoners with whom they shared their cell were asleep, incapacitated, or even possibly dead. There would be no help there—and from what she could see, Finley was no lock pick.

“So after that totally works, what’s our plan?” she asked sarcastically.

Finley strained at the lock. Something beeped.

Rose looked over in surprise and wild hope, only to see an additional panel slide into place, covering the lock mechanism. Finley leaned against the wall and blew her breath out in frustration.

“This thing that failed was our plan,” she said. “Without a codebreaker to break us into that Destroyer, it’s shot. Our fleet’s out of time. We’re done. Which means Ben's done.”

 _Ben Ben Ben. Here she goes with Ben again! No feelings for him, my ass!_ thought Rose as she took a step toward Finley, determined to beat her so hard she forgot who Ben Solo was.

“Why did I trust you?” Rose demanded.

“Pretty face,” Finley reminded her with a snarky grin.

“You’re a selfish traitor," Rose hissed.

Finley stood up. “ ’Cause I want to save my friend? Yeah, you’d do the same.”

“I would not,” Rose insisted.

“No? If you’d had the chance, you wouldn’t have saved your sister?” Finley shot back.

Rose whipped around, closed the distance and shoved her in a fury.

Finley's eyes went wide, and she shoved her back, pinning her to the wall. She reached her fist back, ready to strike... and then her fist fell limply to her side when she saw the tears well in Rose's eyes.

Finley stumbled back and plopped onto the bench as Rose slid to the floor.

It was over. They were going to sit in this cell while the Resistance died, and whatever happened to them after that wouldn’t particularly matter.

“Um, Ah can do it,” someone said.

“What?” asked Finley wearily.

One of their fellow prisoners had sat up on the bench and was peering blearily at them.

The prisoner was a human man, scruffy and tattered, with a rumpled mop of hair and unshaven face, clad in a battered jacket and dirty black pants.

The man began to conduct a lazy inventory of his possessions: a pair of worn boots with the laces tied together and a stomped-up looking cap.

“Sorry,” the man drawled. “C-couldn’t help b-but overhear all da boring stuff you was saying really loudly while Ah was trying ta sleep. Codebreaker? Thief? Ah can do it.”

He gave them a lazy double thumbs-up. “Yo.”

“Yeah, we’re not talking about picking pockets,” Finley replied dismissively.

A feral grin split the grungy man’s face. “Awww, yeah. D-don’t let da wrapper fool you, friend. Me and da First Order codeage go way back. If da p-price is right, Ah can break you inta Old Man Snoke’s b-boudoir.

“Yeah, no thanks,” Finley insisted, backed up by Rose.

The thief—if that was indeed what he was—just shrugged.

“Besides, if you’re such a good thief, what are you doing in here?” Finley asked, gesturing around the cell.

The thief reached down and retrieved his rumpled hat, pawing it onto his head. A cheap metal plate on the front was emblazoned with letters that spelled out DON’T JOIN.

“Sista, dis is da one p-place in town Ah can g-get some s-sleep without worrying about da c-cops,” he said, working his feet into his boots.

Finished, DJ—that’s how Finley had decided to think of him—waddled over to the cell door with a drunken sort of gait. He looked blearily at the lock while the girls watched, bemused and curious.

DJ cursed. He reached over, adjusted something, adjusted something else, and slapped the lock. The door slid open noiselessly and he strolled out into the cell block, leaving Finley and Rose staring gape-mouthed at the open bars.

An alarm began to blare. Rose and Finley exchanged a stunned look, squeezed through the door, and began to run.

***

DJ stumbled from the cell, futilely trying to smooth out his rumpled clothes. He rounded the corner, expecting the coast to be clear.

Instead, DJ was treated to the sight of a security guard being blasted point blank with coins by a small orange and white ball-shaped droid 

“Ya d-do dat?” DJ asked as the droid turned to him.

Before the droid could answer, another guard rushed into the cell block, blaster drawn. BB-8 fired another fusillade of coins at the man, forcing him to raise one arm to shield his face.

While he was distracted, DJ brought his fists down on the guard’s head, leaving him motionless on the floor.

DJ squatted down and began to greedily scoop up coins, assured that the droid wouldn't shoot him. 

If it did, even better. More coins for him!

BB-8 beeped curiously at DJ as the thief stuffed his coat pockets

DJ looked over at BB-8 and grinned. “S-so what’s y-yer story, roundy?”


	33. The Cave

**Luke Skywalker's Island, Ahch-To**

The stairs were taking too long, so Ben skidded down the slope leading down from the temple, then raced across the top of the island, scattering nesting porgs, his lightsaber already unhooked from his belt.

He ran past the Uneti Tree and reached the winding track that led down to the Caretakers’ village. It was growing dark and he was breathing hard.

Ben could see the lights below him—and, through the fog and gloom, the shapes of the raiders’ ships approaching the rocky shore.

Anger propelled Ben forward. Luke had said the  
raiders came every month. That meant this had happened many times during his exile. How many nights had he stood brooding at the crest of the island, doing nothing, while those who served him were left to suffer?

Ben didn’t understand how anyone could do that—and if he had anything to do about it, this would be the last time it happened.

Ben hurtled over a tide pool and his finger found the lightsaber’s activator, its light tinting the gray water around him blue. 

As Ben neared the village, kicking up loose rock, he heard screams and cries ahead. He slashed through a gate made of driftwood, lightsaber raised over his head—and came to a shocked stop.

Tables groaned with platters of seafood. Caretaker matrons were dispensing grog into stone mugs and passing them into a crowd of males and females, dancing energetically to the sound of horns and drums.

The raiders, Ben saw, were the same species as the Lanai Caretakers, but wearing colorful woolen garments designed for seafaring.

He’d interrupted a party.

The partygoers turned to behold Ben poised to attack, teeth bared and weapon raised.

They greeted him with joyous cries, swinging lengths of kelp studded with makeshift phosphorescent bladders above their heads.

Ben halfheartedly waved the lightsaber in the air like a glowstick and the partygoers cheered even more loudly.

His sides hurt from the exertion and his adrenaline had leaked away, leaving him feeling shaky and faintly sick.

On the fringe of the celebrating crowd, Ben spotted Chewbacca with a mug of something, one  
hairy fist resting on Artoo's dome. The Wookiee called out a cheerful greeting, and the astromech beeped.

“Seriously?!” Ben roared.

He was staring out over the moonlit ocean, still furious, when Luke finally made his way down the slope into the village. He stood next to Ben, but he refused to look at him.

“Raid and plunder?” Ben asked when he couldn’t stand it any longer.

“In a way," Luke gestured to the celebration.

“Was this a joke?” Ben asked through gritted teeth.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think you’d—you just ran so fast," Luke replied sheepishly.

The musicians had begun a lilting song that struck him as beautiful but sad. It made him think of lonely voyages across vast and uncertain seas or deep, uncharted space.

“I thought they were in danger,” Ben said. “I was just trying to do something.”

“And that’s what the Resistance needs—not an old failed husk of a religion," Luke explained. "Do you understand now?"

Ben's fists were shaking. He held them tight to his sides lest he swung them at his uncle's jaw. “I understand that across the galaxy our real friends are really dying. That legend of Luke Skywalker that you hate so much? I believed in it. I was wrong.”

And he left him alone on the edge of the party, backlit by the moonlit sea.

***

Ben wandered, deep in troubled thought until he found himself on a long, flat outcropping of stone that emerged from the grassy slopes of the island to end in a low cliff above the sea.

In the center of the stone was a gaping hole in the rock, a black void, surrounded by reddish moss bleached gray by the moonlight.

He carefully approached the place he’d seen in his vision on the meditation ledge, the one that had been trying to show him something.

Luke had warned him that accepting its offer would be yielding to the Dark Side, but perhaps that was because Luke feared the truths it might reveal. 

At this point, Ben could care less what his Uncle Luke thought.

Ben stared into the inky darkness of the hole, so dark that not even the bright moonlight permeated its depths. A sound seemed to emanate from it, as if speaking to him.

He stopped at the edge, stooping to examine the tendrils of moss, and slipped. Slipped, or perhaps was dragged inside. Ben didn’t know if he cried out, or if it even made a sound.

He fell into water, the cold knocking the air from his lungs and biting his flesh.

Ben struggled to surface, gasping as he hauled himself out onto the slick, flat stone.

He was in a cave, he saw now—a long, narrow space that the sea had carved away beneath the lip of the cliff, creating a hidden place beneath the island.

Before him, the sea had ground and polished the walls of the cave until the stone was like a dark, cracked glossy mirror.

Ben could see his reflection in it—, a thousand reflections of himself retreating from his gaze, created by the stone’s labyrinthine facets.

He could hear himself breathing—slowly and raggedly, then quickly as he realized he was inside the stone, within this mirror world, with several Bens between him and the soaked, shivering man standing on the ledge in the cave.

Then that Ben was gone and a hundred Bens stood between him and the tall figure on the ledge.

He turned his head and all those Bens obediently did the same in succession, until all were staring along  
with him deeper into the dark stone.

Ben knew he had to go deeper, farther past the doppelgangers of himself that seemed to go on forever. 

It was all leading somewhere, and if he had to have the courage to follow, to find what he had come to see—and what he was most afraid to know.

He followed the line of Bens until at last there was one final Ben, breathing hard and staring at a large, round, clouded mirror of polished stone like the one that had called to the man in the cave.

This last Ben stood in front of the stone, gazing into its depths.

He had only one question, the question that haunted every waking thought and every dream.

”What is my destiny?"

He stretched out her hand and the clouded surface of the mirror seemed to ripple, its darkness melting away. As his heartbeat hammered in his ears, his fingers touched the stone and met the fingertips of another.

His features dissolved into the surface. Expecting to see his own face, he instead saw the young face of his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker.

Anakin's face began to age and burn, his hair and flesh warping into that black metal skull-like shape of Darth Vader's mask. A mechanical breathing filled Ben's head, and rang in his ears.

"NNNNOOOOOO!" Ben screamed, but in a voice that wasn't his-- deeper and artificial.

Red filled his vision, and then faded to black. When Ben awoke, he was staring down the black void at the lip of the hole.

Disheartened, confused, and angry, Ben pushed himself off the ground and headed back to his hut.


	34. Fathier Chase

**Canto Bight, Cantonica**

Finley and Rose fled through a long tunnel, dimly lit by a strip of maintenance lighting.

The smell was foul inside the tunnel, and grew steadily worse, until Rose’s eyes stung from the ammonia and she thought she would gag. It reminded Finley of some of the First Order freshers she's cleaned, and she had an educated inkling that this particular smell was something similar.

Just as they were beginning to worry that the tunnel would never end, they encountered a ladder—one that emerged from a dark mound whose origins confirmed Finley's suspicions.

“After you,” she said, turning away in disgust.

"That's shit, isn't it?" Rose's nose scrunched. "Considering you're full of it, I think you should go first."

Finley snorted. "Fine."

She shrugged and scrambled up the ladder, paying _very_ close attention to where she put her feet. Rose followed her up the ladder just as carefully, grimacing, and emerged next to her in a dark, dimly lit space.

“That smelled great,” Finn said, looking around, puzzled. It definitely wasn't like any fresher she'd ever seen. “What is this?”

They were in a long, pillared hall of brick and stone, with wooden gates on either side of them and a floor littered with straw. Rose wrinkled her nose—there was still that strong smell.

A massive, milky-white head appeared over the wooden gate next to them, regarding them curiously. It had wide, wing like ears, deep, worried-looking eyes, and a short snout.

Startled, Finley slipped and fell, winding up on the stable floor.

She moaned with wounded pride, but Rose ignored her. The animal was a fathier.

More of the fathiers' heads appeared above the gates. Some of their hides were crisscrossed with pale scars.

Moving slowly so as not to startle it, Rose peeked over the first fathier’s gate, the animal snuffling at her and murmuring something.

The beast itself didn’t smell bad, like a combination of grass and sweat, with a faintly spicy tone. Its stall was barely larger than it was—it hardly had enough room to lie down or turn around. Considering the insane wealth surrounding them, it was shameful to see the contrast.

Startled, a small boy sat up behind the fathier, scooting back to where his rough cot met the wall. He stared at her, frightened, and fumbled for a red button on the wall.

“No no no!” Finley yelped.

“We’re with the Resistance!” Rose said at the same time.

The stableboy looked at her doubtfully from beneath a frayed cap.

Rose fumbled with a ring given to her by the Resistance in memory of her sister, activating the hidden catch on its side, which revealed the insignia of the old Rebel Alliance.

The fathier nickered plaintively. Rose held her breath as the boy studied the ring.

Then a smile crept across his face.

***

When the police burst into the stable, blasters drawn, two things happened almost at once.

First, a massive door slid aside, opposite the row of fathier stalls.

Then every gate on the stalls snapped open and the hapless officers were left in the clouds of dust and straw as twenty fathiers leapt free of the confines of their pens, jostling to be first through the door leading to the empty racetrack beyond.

As the shellshocked officers picked themselves up and stared after the departing fathiers, the young stableboy grinned and crept away from the control panel he’d just activated, looking down happily at the ring with the Alliance crest where it bobbled on his finger.

***

Rose clung to the lead fathier—the herd’s matriarch, the boy had explained in halting Basic—as her first steps exploded into a full gallop.

In her ear, Finley let out an astonished yelp as the world began pitching violently up and down around them, holding tight to Rose's middle.

Rose almost wanted to elbow Finley off the back of their fathier, but at the same time, her contact was strangely reassuring. She tolerated it, as long as Finley didn't get _too_ grabby.

Despite this, Rose knew a grin was plastered across her face. She’d been nervous when the stableboy had hastily buckled a saddle onto the fathier’s back and indicated—with a mischievous grin—that they should climb aboard.

Despite their nerves, the fathier had accepted both of their weights on her muscular back. Her sides quivered between Rose’s knees and her ears twitched, and somehow Rose knew: She wanted to run.

Incidentally, so did Rose and Finley. Far away from Canto Bight.

Around them, the racetrack was empty but lit up as if it were broad daylight instead of the middle of the night.

Rose wanted to rear up more in the saddle so her legs could better keep her in place atop the hurtling fathier, but she couldn’t with Finley tightly plastered to her back. There was nothing to do except hold on to the animal’s neck as best she could. She just hoped she wasn't choking the fathier.

Her fears were misplaced, as Rose could feel the fathier matriarch’s enormous lungs working beneath her thick hide, and the powerful muscles of her neck and legs working in synchronization like a living, high performance racing machine.

Rose was terrified and exhilarated—and aching for Paige to have been able to see this.

The fathier’s head slammed up and down as she ran, her ears pushed back behind her by the wind. Rose could feel the hot blood pumping beneath her arms where they were pressed against the beast’s long, tree trunk neck.

“Stop enjoying this!” Finley yelled in her ear.

Police speeders rose into view above the track and Rose could see their weapons rotate, trying to get a fix on the fathier matriarch and the herd sprinting behind her.

But then the fathier matriarch snorted and lowered her head determinedly, as if she had a plan.

“Ohhh—hang on!” Rose squealed as she realized what that plan was.

She ducked, pressing her head against the fathier’s neck as the matriarch crossed the racetrack's infield, churning up grass, and then smashed through the window behind one of the casino’s bars. Glasses and chairs flew, and Rose could hear people screaming.

Finley’s face was between Rose's shoulder blades. Was that swoop in Rose's stomach from that or the destruction going on around them?

Rose ignored that odd thought and looked around, seeing the blur of the casino floor around them. Casino-goers were diving over tables and piling up in panicked heaps, yelling in terror.

Server droids stood stock-still, pivoting their trays rapidly this way and that to avoid the herd and the screaming, fleeing guests as the bouncers tried unsuccessfully to take control of the situation.

The fathiers stormed into the lobby, past a terrified valet and onto the hood of a fancy speeder, before barreling up the boulevard.

Tables and chairs flew as the herd obliterated an outdoor café before ducking into an alley and leaping up onto a low rooftop.

Rose yelped as the fathier hurtled the gaps between the buildings, scanning for a route across the city.

Ahead of them, a rooftop skylight glowed in the night.

“No no no—” Rose yowled as the fathier turned toward the light.

The fathier ignored Rose's pleas and burst through the skylight and into a a sweltering, steamy sauna, past a pair of shocked and hapless aliens.

The herd turned the room to kindling before crashing back into the street in an explosion of flying glass as Finley screamed into Rose's ear.

“Yeahhhh!” Rose screamed along with her, her joyous defiance turning into a moan of fear as police speeders swooped down in their path, their spotlights turned on them.

The herd rocketed into a narrow alley. Strings of decorative lights stretched and snapped, stone walls blurring by on either side of them.

Ahead, the alley terminated in a dead end and Rose’s stomach fluttered as they sprang into the air, the wall of Old City passing just below the fathier's belly, and they landed in loose gravel and sand.

The rest of the herd came down behind her, grunting and snorting, chasing Rose's fathier across the beach.

Moonlight glimmered on the surface of the sea.  
They could see the pale shape of the shuttle, still sitting on the beach. It wasn’t far away—they might even make it.

Then it exploded, ripped apart by a fusillade of full-intensity laserfire from the police speeders.

“Aw, come on!” Finley yelled.

Blasterfire whined around them and blue stun rings struck the edges of the herd and one fathier even tumbled end over end, stunned and helpless.

The fathier matriarch snorted and froth flew from her muzzle, distressed at the sight of her herd in trouble.

Ahead of her, the beach rose, climbing a bluff. The fathier matriarch took it at a sprint, her hooves scrambling for purchase in the loose sand, and she raced along a rocky ledge above the water.

Police vehicles were alongside them now, firing into the herd. Fathiers tumbled off the ledge, falling toward the beach.

“This is a shooting gallery!” Finley screamed. “Get us out!”

Rose yanked on the fathier's neck, trying to alert her to the danger, but she knew there was only one way forward and sped up a terrifyingly narrow, crumbling path, her hooves slinging gouts of sand in her wake.

They emerged in a broad meadow, a green oasis in the middle of the Cantonican desert. The fathier matriarch tore through the tall grass like a lawnmower, up to her flanks in greenery.

Rose leaned hard to the right, urging the fathier in that direction. The fathier raised her head and called to the rest of the herd before obeying, cutting across the field as Rose had asked. The rest of the herd remained on its earlier course, too panicked to listen to their matriarch.

“Is it working?!” Finn yelled.

Rose watched the spotlights swing from the other fathiers to the one she was riding.

“They’re letting the herd go!” she yelled. “Now if we can just—”

“Cliff!” Finley shouted.

The fathier skidded to a halt, digging up skeins of grass and dirt.

Rose and Finley were flung over her head, tumbling through the sweet-smelling Cantonica grass.

Rose wound up on her belly, just short of the cliff’s edge. She peeked over it, legs shaking, and saw it dropped at least a couple hundred feet to the water below.

“Can you swim?” Finley asked.

“Not when I’m dead,” Rose replied grimly. “We’re trapped.”

Rose's fathier stood in the grass, sides heaving.

Behind them, the police speeders were hurtling toward them, spotlights searching the meadow for them.

“Well, it was worth it to tear up that town,” Finley said, slumping over, waiting for the speeders to catch up to them. “Make ’em hurt.”

Rose shot a surprised look her way. After she drooled over the casino's decadence, Rose certainly didn't expect that out of her.

Finley grinned up at Rose and winked. Rose smiled at her. Maybe "The Finley" wasn't such a filthy traitor after all.

Rose's fathier was still breathing hard. Her fingers worked at the straps of her saddle, loosening it and then letting it slide off into the grass.

“Thank you,” Rose told the animal, then reached into her jumpsuit to touch her medallion.

"They’re even more beautiful than you said they were, sis," she added quietly to herself.

The fathier matriarch looked at her, either reluctant to leave them or too tired to go. Rose slapped her flank and she trotted away, breaking into a canter that took her across the meadow, back toward the other members of her herd.

Above, the police spotlights followed the fathier briefly, then snapped back to Rose and Finley.

Rose watched the fathier go and smiled.

“Now it’s worth it,” she said, and waited for the police speeders to descend and take them back to jail.

A different sound reached her ears—the whining hum of well-tuned ion engines.

Rose turned and her mouth opened in shock as a luxury star yacht rose from the cleft in the bluffs, hovering in front of them.

A hatch opened on the side of the yacht and a familiar orange-and-white astromech whistled at them.

“BB-8, are you flying that thing?” Finley yelled.

The answering beeps were rather accusatory.

“No, we were coming back for you!” Finley said. “Come on, pick us up!”

Then, behind BB-8, the thief DJ stepped into view. He was a little more cleaned up than he was in the jail cell.

“Oh, ya need a l-lift?” DJ grinned. “Say da m-magic words!"

“Pretty please?” Finley deadpanned.

But Rose knew all too well what DJ was waiting to hear. And she wasn't happy about it.

“You’re hired."


	35. Communion

**Luke Skywalker's Island, Ahch-To**

Ironically-- despite not actually getting wet from the cave-- it had begun to rain outside and Ben was soaked by the time he reached his hut.

Ben burst inside, sending a small group of porgs squawking away in panic as the door banged open. With the vision of the cave still fresh in his mind, he slammed the door shut.

He threw aside his jacket and tossed aside his drenched undershirt.

He started a fire to dry off, and then scoffed when he felt the now vexingly familiar tingle in the back of his neck. 

"This is really not a good time right now," grumbled Ben without looking back.

"When is it ever?" Kira's voice replied dryly.

Ben whipped around to face her and he gasped.

Kira stood before him wearing nothing but a simple black breast wrap and a black thong-like undergarment. Even her hair was down, unstyled. Ben couldn't help but stare at her, not just at her lithe, pale body, but at the dozens of scars that etched her body like tiger stripes.

One thing was for certain: Rey was not the little girl he remembered any more.

"Do you like what you see, Ben Solo?" Kira quipped as he gawked at her.

Ben turned away and blushed, flustered. "That has nothing to do with anything."

"Well... _I_ do," Kira purred as she eyed Ben's muscular torso. "I like what I see."

Ben's blush deepened, and then he rounded on her, the conflicted emotions of their last encounter boiling over. "Why did you do it? Why did you destroy the temple? Why did you kill your brothers and sisters? Your friends?!"

"What's the point of telling you?" Kira frowned, losing all of the flirtatious pretense. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Tell me, Rey!" yelled Ben. "TELL ME!!"

"I didn't kill them!" cried Kira, her voice breaking.

Ben balled his fists and stalked towards her. "What? What happened?!"

"I was _sleeping_ ," Kira began. "Dreaming. Horrible things. Nightmare visions. I heard a noise... and I woke up to see your uncle... Skywalker... standing over me, lightsaber in hand."

"Liar," Ben objected. She had to be lying. He wouldn't. He would never.

"It's the _truth_ ," Kira bore into his eyes. "Fearing for my life, I lashed out, and brought the roof down on the both of us. I escaped the rubble and then I saw them. The Knights. Their leader, Ren."

"Ren?" Ben asked, skeptical.

"An Acolyte of Snoke," Kira spat. "Comparatively weaker to us in the Force, but a formidable warrior and a master of the lightsaber."

Tears, _actual tears_ began to well in her eyes. "They took me... and slaughtered everyone else."

Ben swallowed. He could still remember the flames. The distant screams... Was Rey's voice one of those screams?

The tears flowed freely now over trembling lips. "The Knights gave me a new name. _Kira_. The training was... brutal. They beat me. They _raped_ me. They stole whatever innocence I had left, until there was nothing left of me but hate and rage and darkness. Until I was strong enough to kill Ren and submit them all to my will. Then I was ready to be Snoke's apprentice."

Ben's previous anger at her evaporated. He didn't see the murderess of Starkiller before him anymore, but a scared girl warped by evil. He closed the distance between them. If he could reach the Rey he once knew underneath the mask of Kira Ren, perhaps...

"I'm so sorry," he said softly.

"I don't want your pity," Kira hissed, stepping back from him.

"I'm not offering you pity," Ben held out his right hand to her. "I'm offering you compassion."

Kira eyed his hand suspiciously, gingerly lifting her own hand to just a fraction of an inch away from his.

The question of their meeting in the rain returned to the forefront of his mind. Could they even touch across lightyears? Or would their hands simply pass through each other like ghosts?

Tentatively, their hands met. To both of their surprises, their skin made contact with the other. They jolted at the touch, it felt to Ben like grabbing a livewire.

A rush of emotions, thoughts, and memories flooded Ben's mind, flashes, like snapshots of time--

_FLASH!_

_"_ _No! Come back!" Rey screamed at her parent's starship as it departed into the Jakku sky. "Come back!"_

_"Come, girl! Come!" roared the monstrous Unkar Plutt as he dragged her away. "You're mine now!"_

_"Come back!" Rey reached out towards the sky, as if to try to snatch the fleeing starship out of the clouds. "Come back!"_

_The starship slowed, straining as if it was towing an immensely heavy weight. It shook, the metal warping like a tin can._

_"Come back!"_

_The starship, unable to handle the pull of the invisible forces acting upon it, exploding into a brilliant_ _cloud of fire, smoke, and metal.._

_FLASH!_

_A little girl, cast aside and shunned by Plutt for fear of her powers, wandered the desert for days, thirsty, starving, haunted by voices and visions._

_On the verge of death, Rey_ _collapsed, and was found and nursed back to health by a kindly old man, an explorer named Lor San Tekka..._

_FLASH!_

_San Tekka's village welcomed a pair of visitors: Jedi. Luke Skywalker and his young nephew, Ben Solo. They were to train her in the ways of the Force. When she agreed to join them, Ben Solo smiled and took her hand..._

_FLASH!_

_The girl trained with Ben, the most senior of the padawan learners. He was a kind and patient teacher. A friend. A confidant. Hopefully, one day, maybe more..._

_FLASH!_

_Rey ran from the temple after finding Ben and Tai in the throes of carnal passion. She hid away, and the voices that she had kept at bay for so long came back again, with a renewed purpose and a name: **Snoke**..._

_FLASH!_

_Rey's eyes shot open from a troubled sleep when she heard a lightsaber activate._

_Her Jedi Master, Luke Skywalker, stood above her, emerald saber lit, an anguished expression on his face as he contemplated taking the life of an eleven year old girl._

_On instinct, Rey brought the roof down on them both!_

_FLASH!_

So many more. So many, too painful for Ben to contemplate.

A new tear tracked down Kira's wet cheek. Without thinking about it, Ben intercepted it and wiped it away with his left hand.

Kira leaned into his hand, closing her eyes as more tears seeped through. When she opened her eyes, she saw Ben's own wet eyes boring into her's.

Kira caressed the scar she gave him and for the longest of brief seconds she stared at those eyes before pressing her lips to his.

Ben pulled back in surprise, conflicted.

"Rey..." Ben murmured, shaking his head. "I... we..."

Aggressively, Kira pulled him back in for another kiss, pressing her body against his.

"Please," Kira begged into his mouth. "Please."

Ben knew he shouldn't. Hell, he would bet the _Falcon_ that she knew _she_ shouldn't. But he couldn't help it. She couldn't help it.

They were either going to fight or fuck-- there was no in between-- as their boiling emotions and thick sexual tension reached an apex.

It would be the latter. There was no going back. There couldn't be.

Irresistibly-- like his body was reacting independently of his mind-- Ben found himself drawing her closer, clutching at every inch of flesh his hands could reach.

The nape of her neck... the curve of her back... the round firmness of her ass... the possessive way she held his face as she gave him hungry kisses... the needy and impatient noises she made: it was all-consuming. Intoxicating.

Kira backed him blindly into his cot, sucking his reciprocated kisses like oxygen. The edge of the cot pressed into his kneepits and her weight pushed him to his butt.

He caught himself with his hands, leaving Kira free to pull his pants down. She didn't even wait until they were completely off before she pulled aside the underside of her thong and straddled him, taking him deep inside of her with a sharp, whimpering gasp.

Kira still held his face in her hands, grasping at his hair, panting into his mouth between kisses.

They were locked in a renewed duel of dominance, as Kira's rolling hips battled Ben's upward thrusting hips in a stalemate where neither would give ground.

Ben squeezed at those hips, not to slow their momentum but to accelerate them. To push her harder into him, and him harder into her, with a heat and pressure that could forge diamond.

Despite the speed and intensity of their motions, time seemed to slow for the both of them. Ben could feel her body tense with every thrust, hear every ragged breath and taste every rivulet of sweat that dripped down her flushed face.

It wasn't love they were making, no. It was a desperate, primal, mutual need. A physical consummation of their connection.

A consummation that was reaching its peak, as Kira pressed her hands to his chest, arching back and screaming Ben's name like a howling wolf as he filled her with his ---

"STOP!"

The door of the hut slammed open, and the last thing Kira saw before she was back inside her quarters in the _Supremacy_ was a furious Luke Skywalker as the walls exploded around them.

She placed a hand on her beating chest, quivering with a combination of orgasm and shock.

Skywalker's intrusion happened so fast! It ruined her and Ben's long awaited moment!

She squeezed her eyes shut. The intrusion reminded her horribly of catching Ben and Tai together when she was eleven. Of when she collapsed the ceiling on Luke and herself that fateful night.

Kira's eyes blinked open when she realized that a sticky moisture was leaking out of her. She inspected it. Ben had climaxed inside of her!

For the briefest of moments she imagined having his children.

But no. Of course not. She was sterile. Snoke had made sure of that long ago. No children of her own. No attachments. Not ever.

Curious, Kira brought her fingers to her lips. She savored its heady flavor. His flavor.

He was the only man she ever wanted. The only man she ever accepted willingly.

Ben...

Kira Ren vowed that their first time would not be their last.

He would come to her, and then he would be her's forever.


	36. Sins of the Father

Ben lay almost completely naked and exposed on his cot as the cold rain pelted him. Kira was gone. The warmth of her body, the heat of her sex, vanished.

He rolled off the cot and fumbled to pull his pants up. His shirt was nowhere to be found, lost in the rubble of the hut that exploded outward.

Luke stared at him with pure rage in his eyes. He held Han's old jacket and tossed it angrily to Ben.

"You shame your father's memory by laying with his murderer," Luke said through gritted teeth. "Leave this island. Now!"

Then he turned and walked away—just as he’d done the day Ben arrived, bearing the family lightsaber that had finally passed to him.

That day he had just watched, bewildered and hurt. But that had somehow become a long time ago. And Luke would walk away from him, from his responsibility, no longer.

"How dare you!" snarled Ben. "You hypocritical son of a bitch!"

Luke whipped around, and met Ben's right hand across his jaw.

Luke reeled from the punch, and Ben came back with a left to his gut.

Another sharp right to his cheek and Luke stumbled, coughing on blood and the air Ben's fist forced from his diaphragm.

Luke reached out his hand and a length of lightning rod flew off the roof of one of the huts and into his fist. 

He swung the rod like a makeshift lightsaber to keep Ben at bay. 

Ben leapt back to avoid a blow to his gut, and then held out his own hand and summoned the Skywalker saber to it and ignited it, pirouetting as he cut the lightning rod in half in one fluid motion.

At the same time, Ben Force Pushed his uncle, knocking Luke backward onto his butt in the mud. 

Ben stood above him, and Luke looked as he held the blade high, rain hissing and sparking off its azure length.

They looked at each other for a long moment, and then Ben turned the lightsaber off, leaving them in the rain.

“Tell me the truth!" Ben said, fighting to calm himself. "Why did you do it? Why did you try to kill Rey?!"

"I came to her that night with good intention," Luke explained, wiping his jaw of a trickle of blood. "She was sleeping, fitfully, tossing and turning. I searched her mind, thinking perhaps she was having a nightmare. What I found there was far more terrifying than a simple nightmare."

Ben glared at him. He knew what happened. As for the reason, he had no idea. Luke Skywalker, the man who saw the good in Darth Vader, who rejected Jedi tradition to save him from the Dark Side through compassion and love... Ben couldn't imagine what was so threatening about a preteen girl that this same man, this legendary hero, would attempt to murder her in her sleep. It went against the very fiber of his being.

"I saw that she would bring destruction, pain, death, and the end of everything I loved because of what she would become," Luke lamented. "And for the briefest moment of pure instinct, I thought I could stop it. It passed like a fleeting shadow. But it was too late. And I was left with shame and with consequence."

"She was eleven, damn you! _Eleven_!" roared Ben.

"I know!" cried Luke. Ben couldn't tell where the rain ended and the tears began. He looked like a tired, broken old man, far from the wise mentor he once was. "And I've lived every moment of every day regretting that one single moment of madness."

"You're no different than Vader, raising a lightsaber to a child!" Ben seethed. He remembered his vision of Vader's reprehensible actions during the Jedi Purge. To think his uncle, the man he idolized growing up, could almost do the same thing made his insides twist.

Luke said nothing. But he held his nephew's gaze through bleary eyes.

"You failed her. When you should have protected her, you instead pushed her further into the Dark Side, and subjected her to a lifetime of absolute _hell_ at the hands of evil, evil beings."

Ben's words were like whiplashes. But Luke endured them.

Ben squared his jaw. "But I'm gonna get her back. If she were turned from the Dark Side, that could shift the tide. This could be how we win.”

Luke shook his head. “Ben... this is not going to go the way you think."

“It _is_. Because of what I saw in her mind... because of what we shared together... Rey _will_ turn if I go to her," Ben declared.

“Ben, don’t do this,” Luke warned.

Ben’s answer was to hold the unlit lightsaber out to him once again—a last invitation to step up and right his wrongs.

He knew immediately that he would not accept it.

“Then she’s our last hope,” Ben said vindictively.

Ben then turned and simply walked away from him.

***

Ben stomped onto the _Millennium Falcon,_ nudging aside a wandering porg with his foot that waddled up to meet him.

"Chewie!" Ben shouted. "Set a course to-- OOF!!"

A massive blur of brown and Chewbacca grabbed him by the throat and pushed him against the wall, roaring furiously in his face.

"You have _her_ scent all over you!" Chewbacca snarled.

"Urrk! I know!" gasped Ben as the Wookiee's gigantic hands clasped around his neck, lifting him up the wall to the ceiling.

"Why?!" Chewbacca demanded. He pushed against Ben's throat even harder. "How could you?!"

" _Ack_! I don't know!" Ben choked, clawing at the Wookiee's furry forearm. "It's... c-complicated! T-trust meeee! "

Chewbacca's eyes narrowed. The boy had it bad. And he was going to drag him along on this idiot mission to go try and get the same girl who had a hand in his father's death.

"Chewieeee...!!!" Ben was turning blue. His eyes rolled back in his head, his vision fading.

Chewbacca's grip slackened, and he let Ben go.

Ben slid to his bottom against the wall and Chewie waited patiently as he caught his breath. When Ben recovered, the Wookiee pulled him roughly to his feet.

"I sure hope you know what you're doing," Chewie scolded, putting his hands on his hips.

Ben sighed, massaging his throat. "Me too."

Chewbacca scoffed. So much like his father. All heart, no plan.

"Luke?" Chewie asked, resigning himself to another dumb Solo adventure.

Ben shook his head in irritation. "Forget about him. He's made his choice."

Chewbacca let out a disappointed whine like a whimpering dog.

"Yeah, I know, Uncle Chewie," replied Ben as he walked to his locker for a change of dry clothes. The Resistance restocked his wardrobe when they came back from Starkiller since the _Falcon'_ s previous owners did away with many of their possessions when they stole the freighter from his dad and Chewie.

He gasped when saw his old padawan clothes folded at the bottom of the pile. He hadn't worn them in almost ten years. He had no idea how they got there.

His mother must have arranged for them to be put in there. When he came back from Starkiller, he found she traveled with a few of their family's prized possessions, like his father's medal from the Battle of Yavin and the old jacket he was wearing at the moment. She must have saved them when he came back home from the temple disaster and he discarded them.

Brown pants and tunic. Black boots and a black leather tabard and waistbelt.

Ben took a deep breath as he considered wearing them again. He thought of his uncle. The one he knew eight years ago, not the wreck that he left in the rain. He thought of the long deceased padawans from the temple, many of them he mentored himself.

Lastly, he thought of Rey. The young girl who looked up to him, and the troubled woman she became.

Luke may have given up on Rey, on whatever he thought the Jedi Order was or had become, but Ben hadn't.

Ben stripped off his soaked pants and his father's jacket.

Determinedly, he unfolded his padawan garments and slid the pants on. Next his boots, and then his tunic. He slid his tabard on and fastened it with his waistbelt.

Everything still fit after all those years. The ensemble was complete.

No. Something was missing. Lying in the pile of his wet clothing was the Skywalker saber. He summoned it to his hand and hooked it to his waistbelt.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He was ready.


	37. Don't Join

**The _Raddus_ , Deep Space**

Poe stalked angrily through the corridors of the _Raddus_ , passing nervous-looking soldiers and crewers, some of whom were evacuated from the just-evacuated _Ninka,_ a ship that was currently being obliterated by a First Order fleet of Star Destroyers that outnumbered the last remaining Resistance ship-- the _Raddus_ \-- thirty-to-one.

The heavy cruiser was dim, lit only by emergency lighting. That was to conserve fuel—a measure he might have agreed with, if only he knew what that fuel was being conserved for.

He reached the temporary bridge and found Commander D’Acy waiting for him, outside the doors.

“The admiral’s banned you from the bridge,” she said. “Let’s not have a scene.”

“No. Let’s,” Poe said, shouldering D’Acy aside and storming onto the bridge. D’Acy hurried to catch up with him, but he bee-lined straight for Holdo. None of the officers in his path dared to stop him.

Holdo just regarded him evenly. “Flyboy." 

“Cut it,” Poe spat, nose-to-nose with her. “We’re running on fumes and your crew knows it and you’ve told them nothing. You’ve got something up your sleeve, now’s when you put it on the table. Right now. Tell me we’re not just running away until we die—that we have a plan. That we have hope. Please.”

Poe wondered if she’d slap him, or order the soldiers to drag him off to the brig, or simply ignore him. But she surprised him with words that he knew by heart.

“When I served under Leia she’d say hope is like the sun,” Holdo said. “If you only believe in it when you can see it—”

“—you’ll never make it through the night,” Poe finished.

They looked at each other in silence—united, if only for that moment, by their shared regard for the woman they’d lost.

“Captain, you’re mistaking rashness for bravery,” Holdo said. “Follow my orders.”

Poe started to say something, then stopped—one of the officers’ monitors had a readout of a transport on it.

Poe looked over the man’s shoulder, trying to process what he was seeing and not wanting to believe it. Then he whirled to face Holdo, incredulous.

“You’re fueling up the transports—all of them,” he said, his anger building. “We’re abandoning ship! That’s what you’ve got? The transports are unshielded— unarmed. If we abandon our cruiser we don’t stand a chance!”

“Captain,” Holdo said warningly.

“This will destroy the Resistance!" roared Poe. "You’re not just a coward—you’re a traitor!”

Holdo turned away in disgust. “Get this man off my bridge,” she ordered, and the soldiers stepped forward to obey her order.

* * *

**The _Libertine_ , Deep Space **

DJ, as it turned out, had stolen a damn good ship, a yacht by the name of the ridiculously pretentious the _Libertine_ ,

It was nearly two hundred feet from its prow to the rakish fin at the stern, with a glossy white polished hull. 

The inside of the yacht was just as fancy: an elegant lounge outfitted with the most cutting-edge tech; handome cabins belowdecks; and even a _staircase_ leading up to the cockpit.

Before leaving Canto Bight’s jail, BB-8 had retrieved Rose and Finley's personal effects from the impound lot. The droid had then accompanied DJ to the city’s spaceport to obtain transportation.

After listening to a flurry of droidspeak from BB-8 detailing his and DJ's daring escape from the jail and the theft of the ship, Rose achily extracted herself from the pilot’s seat, peeking out of the cockpit to discover that their grungy rescuer was rifling the lounge’s cabinets, humming while he gleefully appraised a very expensive-looking diamond necklace.

Rose scoffed. 

DJ heard her snort and looked up. He showed her the necklace like he won a prize and cocked his head to one side, offering her a floppy grin.

She just shook her head and returned to the cockpit, where Finley was staring out at the glowing tunnel of hyperspace.

“Four parsecs to go,” Finley wowed. “This thing cooks! He must do all right as a thief if he owns a ship like this.”

Rose looked at her with a bemused expression. “Say that one more time, slowly.”

“I’m saying he must be a good thief if... oh right, he stole it," Finley realized sheepishly.

A moment later, still embarrassed, Finley came up with an excuse to flee the cockpit.

Rose chuckled. The girl was finally starting to grow on her. She would have thought that in being a former stormtrooper, that Finley would have been more rough-edged, emotionless. Yes, she was tough and self-sufficient, but she had also had a certain sense of naivete and child-like wonder that one could mistake for ignorance if you couldn't tell the difference.

Her strong sense of loyalty and devotion to her friend Ben Solo was in a sense endearing, but misplaced in Rose's opinion.

Rose did have that same sense of loyalty and devotion to her sister Paige, but she also had loyalty to the Resistance and everything it stood for. Soritorial love was one thing, but she doubted even Paige would have betrayed the entire Resistance for one person. 

Rose wondered if the other stormtroopers were like Finley

On the one hand, maybe there were more of those naive young men and women behind those expressionless, skull-like helmets—lost souls who’d never been allowed to have so much as their own name.

On the other hand, battalions made up of those very same lost souls had destroyed Rose’s homeworld and so many others. How much more ruin and misery would they inflict on the galaxy? Hard to feel sorry for them.

Rose had never heard of another First Order stormtrooper shaking off their brainwashing and refusing to carry out the orders they’d been given.

Maybe Finley was the only one.

Rose supposed she should probably give her a break. Her sister would have said she had a good heart.

And she would have been right.

* * *

Finley watched as DJ systematically rifled the storage compartments in the yacht’s lounge, his hands moving with an easy, fluid grace over the cabinets, unlocking security measures that were invisible to Finley's untrained eye, despite the man looking so mangy and sleepy that it seemed a miracle he was even standing awake.

Then, after the briefest pause, one of DJ’s hands would dart into his jacket, emerging with some mysterious technological implement Finley didn’t recognize. A moment later, a compartment would be open, leaving DJ free to pillage.

BB-8, apparently, was less than impressed. Like Finley, the astromech watched DJ at work, but just squawked and beeped unpleasantly.

“Your droid’s a good judge of character,” DJ said offhandedly, now settling himself at a data console to get to work breaking in through its security measures.

“Why do you say that?” Finley asked.

DJ offered her a crooked grin by way of reply.

“Doesn’t like me,” he said, extracting a small, gleaming tin from his jacket. “Icindric caviar?”

Finley, unsure what that was, shook her head. “So you just steal whatever you need?”

“W-whatever Ah want. D-don’t sell me short," replied DJ with a snort. "Now, let’s see who Ah liberated dis gorgeous hunka f-from.”

The air shimmered and a holographic diagram hovered over the console. DJ glanced at it and his hands danced over the keys, causing diagrams to wink in and out of existence in rapid succession.

“Well, I guess at least you’re stealing from the bad guys and helping the good,” Finley reasoned.

DJ gave him much the same look Rose had aimed at him a minute ago in the cockpit.

“Help da... you can’t... look,” DJ began, then stopped to collect his thoughts. “Da Resistance? Da First Order? They’re b-both da same machine—and dat machine’s a m-m-meat grinder. Good guys, b-bad guys, them’s m-made-up words ta keep everyone fightin'. Keep the money s-spinnin' around. _Dat’_ s what Ah steal from... _A-HA_!”

DJ grinned at something he saw on the console, then thumbed a key. A schematic of a TIE fighter appeared, followed by diagrams of other First Order military vehicles.

“Dis guy’s an arms d-dealer,” DJ said. “Bought dis beauty s-selling ships to da b-bad guys.”

But the next diagram that appeared was a New Republic T-70 X-wing.

“And da g-good,” DJ said, eyes twinkling.

Finley's face fell.

“Finn ma gal, let me l-learn ya something big,” he said. “It’s all a machine, p-partner. Live f-free. _Don’t join_.”

And DJ tapped the plate on his hat bearing his motto.

“Finley, get up here!” came Rose's urgent voice from the cockpit..

Finley bounded up the short flight of steps to the cockpit, so intent on whatever news Rose had that she failed to notice DJ’s attention remained fixed on her as she departed.

“I got through to the fleet,” Rose announced. “Poe’s on the line.”

Finley leaned over the comm.

<Finn! Holdo’s loading the crew into shuttles—she’s going to abandon ship. Where are you?> came Poe's urgent voice.

“That’s what they wanted my bafflers for,” Rose said, her hand reaching for her medallion. “To hide the transports from detection.”

Finley tried to find the readout showing the _Libertine_ ’s progress, but she couldn’t pick it out amid all the screens and controls.

<We’re so close.> Poe told them. <Did you find the Master Codebreaker?>

Rose and Finley exchanged a look.

“We found... a codebreaker,” Finley replied. “But I promise you I can shut the tracker down. Just buy us a little more time.”

<All right.> Poe said. <Hurry!>

Poe broke the transmission.

A glance at Rose told Finley that they were thinking the same thing —and that neither of them wanted to be the first to voice it.

Rose gave in first. “How much do we trust this guy?”

Finley shook her head. “How much choice have we got?”

***

**The _Raddus_ , Deep Space **

Poe shut down his comlink, breaking the connection with Rose and Finley, and looked up at Connix, the Abednedo C’ai Threnalli and the five other pilots in the utility room off the hangar.

“Now we have a chance,” Poe said.

Some of the other pilots still looked uncertain. Poe could hardly blame them, given what he’d asked them to do. But C’ai was nodding, his eyes steely.

Poe knew them all—he wouldn’t have summoned them to this meeting if he hadn’t—though he’d only flown with a couple of them.

He wished he had pilots he knew better, like Snap Wexley or Jessika Pava, but they had their own mission, and most of the other pilots he knew best were dead.

“We tell the admiral about Rose and Finley's mission, and that we need to buy them time,” Poe said. “And we hope she agrees.”

“And if she doesn’t?” asked one of the pilots.

“Then the conversation’s over,” Connix said, nodding to Poe.

“We’ll do what needs to be done,” Poe said, acknowledging Connix. “But nobody dies. If we have to shoot, it’s to stun. There are enough people trying to destroy the Resistance as it is—we’re trying to save it.”


	38. Burn it Down

**Luke Skywalker's Island, Ahch-To**

Luke Skywalker walked across the meadow beneath the stars. The grass had been soaked by the recent downpour, and the Jedi ceremonial robes he changed into were getting wet— soon they’d be filthy with mud.

The Caretakers wouldn’t like that, he knew. They were there to help him, as they had generations of Jedi dating back to when history became legend, but they weren’t above reproach and dirty looks when they thought he was being careless with a task or blasphemous.

Besides, the Caretakers would have things to be a lot angrier about than muddy robes.

Luke activated the torch in his hand, igniting a hissing flame that flickered in the night. Ahead of him loomed the ancient Uneti tree that held the primordial Jedi texts.

He’d donned the robes and taken up the torch several times before, only to falter and lose his resolve just as many times.

Luke wasn’t sure why, exactly. He supposed it was because he had spent so many years crossing the galaxy with Artoo as his companion, searching obsessively for ancient lore and a current purpose, to learn everything he could about the Jedi religion he had championed.

Perhaps it was vanity again— in destroying the tree he'd be destroying everything he'd done since Endor--but time after time, that vanity had prevented him from taking that final step. In fact, Ben had arrived on the island after a failed attempt had left him brooding in the meadow, trying to summon the will to try again.

But Ben, his nephew, was gone. And in a sense, Luke's own actions had destroyed everything that he had done since Endor anyway. Destroying the tree would be the final nail in the coffin of the Jedi religion.

He would not falter this time.

As he lifted his eyes to the tree, Luke sensed something behind him. He turned and beheld a shimmering presence from another time-- an era he was about to render extinct.

"Master Yoda?" Luke gasped, disbelieving.

It had been many years since he had seen a manifestation of the great Jedi Master, and Yoda appeared almost corporeal, much the same as Luke remembered from his fractious training on Dagobah, which he had cut short to confront Darth Vader, before he learned of his familial connection to him.

Diminutive, Yoda was wizened and stooped, his wrinkled green scalp wreathed by a frizzy halo of white hair. His large, bulging eyes were penetrating, seeming to look through Luke and into his innermost thoughts.

“Young Skywalker,” Yoda greeted in his croaky and intelligent voice.

“I’m ending all of this,” Luke warned. “I’m going to burn it down. Don’t try to stop me.”

Yoda just looked amused.

Luke advanced on the ancient tree, the torch blazing in his hand.

He stopped less than an arm’s length away from the pale, twisted bark.

As soon as he stretched out his arm, the primordial wood would begin to burn—and in the minutes after that, the founding texts of the Jedi Order would be drifting ash.

"Time is a circle," Luke began the rite. "The beginning is the end."

But as had happened so many times before, Luke found he couldn’t bring himself to lift his hand and begin the conflagration.

Yoda closed his eyes for a moment and looked to the sky, raising a gnarled finger. A bolt of lightning lanced out of the night sky, momentarily illuminating the island in its brilliance, leaving Luke blinking frantically. When he chased away the spots on his vision, the tree was ablaze.

Luke hurriedly doused the torch, nearly burning himself in the process, and looked for a way to beat out the rapidly spreading flames.

Behind him, he could hear Yoda guffawing in delight. “ ‘Ending all this I am.’ Oh, Skywalker. Missed you have I.”

Luke steeled himself to rush into the tree and grab the books from their nook, but it was impossible—the tree had become an fiery inferno. He slumped in defeat, turned, and stared at Yoda’s shimmering form.

“So it is time for the Jedi Order to end,” Luke said.

“Decide we do not, where our place in this story begins or ends," Yoda corrected firmly. "But time it is for you to look past a shelf of old books.”

Despite what he had come to do, despite all he had brooded upon, Luke found himself offended.

“The sacred Jedi texts!” he cried.

“Read them have you? Page-turners they were not. Wisdom they held, but that library contained nothing your nephew Ben does not already possess," Yoda shook his head.

Luke felt very much like he did when he first encountered him so many years ago in the bogs of Dagobah. As much as he regarded himself a Jedi Master, Yoda always reminded him that he still had a lot to learn. His master was disappointed, and he was embarrassed.

“Skywalker,” Yoda chided, reaching out with his cane to rap Luke's nose with it.. “Still looking to the horizon. Never here, now. The need in front of your nose.”

“I was weak, unwise,” Luke sighed.

“Lost young Rey, you did,” Yoda said, gently but firmly. “Lose Ben Solo, we must not.”

“I can’t be what he needs me to be," Luke lamented.

“Heeded my words not did you,” Yoda chided. “ ‘Pass on what you have learned.’ Wisdom, yes. But folly also. Strength in mastery, hmm. But weakness and failure, yes. Failure most of all. The greatest teacher _failure_ is.”

And then the ancient Jedi Master sounded faintly regretful: “We are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all Masters.”

Luke stared into the fire, its flames reaching for the distant stars like fingers. He stood beside his old teacher as the blaze raged on, consuming the ancient past.

***

 **The _Millennium Falcon_ , Deep Space**

Aboard the _Millennium Falcon_ , Ben finished closing a storage compartment beneath the pilot’s bunk in the main hold and took a deep breath.

None of his lengthy debates with himself during the journey from Ahch-To had led him to any other conclusion. The Force had shown him what to do--now it was up to him to actually do it.

Chewbacca was waiting for him in the freighter’s cramped escape pod bay, crouched by one of the single-person pods. Artoo stood nearby, lights blinking on its dome.

Ben gazed upon the pod, emblazoned with stenciled letters:

ESCAPE POD CLASS A9-40  
MILLENNIUM FALCON

And below that another message was added, that Ben himself had written as a young boy:

PROPERTY OF HAN SOLO PLEASE RETURN

Ben allowed himself a nostalgic smile. He remembered back when his father would bring him on the ship and show him the inner workings of everything. He remembered being so proud of his writing on the pod, even though his penmanship wasn't the best.

They never had to actually use the escape pod, that Ben knew of, and he chuckled now at the silliness of the idea that his father would want an escape pod back because he was too cheap to buy another one.

Chewbacca helped him into the pod, a little more roughly than he would have any other time. He must have still been pissed at him. Too bad.

“As soon as I launch, you jump back out of range and stay there until you get my signal,” Ben instructed.

The Wookiee rumbled, but Ben wasn’t interested in being talked out of it.

“Uncle, If you see Mom or Finley before I do, tell them..." Ben began.

Chewbacca yowled.

Ben grinned. "Yeah. Perfect. Tell them that.”

He climbed into the pod, arranged the lightsaber at his side, and gave Artoo and Chewie a thumbs-up, crossing his arms across his chest as his Wookiee uncle sealed him in. It was cramped as hell inside, and the discomfort was made even worse by his height.

It felt irresistibly like a coffin. Hopefully it wouldn't ultimately prove to be one.


	39. Boarding the Supremacy

**The _Libertine_ , Deep Space**

Rose had known the First Order fleet would be waiting for them, but she still was shocked when the _Libertine_ emerged from hyperspace and she spotted the massive task force in the distance on the yacht's viewscreen.

“Whose brilliant idea was this again?” Finley asked rhetorically.

“D-don’t look at me, g-girl,” said DJ, who’d joined them in the cockpit. “Ah just w-work here. Which D-Destroyer do you want on?”

Rose studied the image of the flagship as the yacht’s sensors constructed a diagram of the massive ship from their scan. She still found the warship’s size almost incomprehensible.

Beyond her surface-level musings on how much a warship like that would cost or what kind of shipyard could have built something of that size, Rose wondered if any ore stripped from the ruins of her homeworld of Hays Minor had gone into that hull.

And if the First Order had built something like this or Starkiller Base, what else had they secretly created?

“Which one do you think?” she snapped at DJ. “Do it. You can actually do this, right?”

DJ studied his grimy fingernails. “Yeah, ab-bout dat. Ladies, Ah can d-do it. But there exists a pre-Do It conversation about p-p-price.”

“Once we’re done, the Resistance will give you whatever you want," Rose replied evenly.

DJ eyed her appraisingly. “Whatcha got d-deposit-wise?”

“Are you kidding me?” Finley snorted. “Look at us.”

DJ did—and Rose noticed that her medallion had drawn his attention.

“Is dat Haysian smelt?” DJ asked. “Dat’s somethin'.”

Rose put her hand over her medal, instinctively hiding it from his covetous gaze.

“No,” Finley said angrily. “We gave you our word. You’re going to get paid. That should be enough.”

Finley flashed back to Jakku when Unkar Plutt had refused to help her and BB-8 without upfront payment. She supposed there was greedy bastards no matter where one went, and boy, did it piss her off.

“Ladies, Ah want ta k-keep helpin',” DJ shrugged. “But no somethin', n-no doin'.”

Finley started to argue, and Rose could see her getting angry. Afraid she would put her stormtrooper training to use, she stepped in.

Eyes cold, Rose tugged her medallion free and tossed it to DJ.

“ _Do it_ ,” she said, the syllables dripping with contempt.

“Now Ah c-can help,” DJ grinned with feral gleam in eyes as his hand closed around the medallion.

Finley wanted to knock him out. Rose took her arm and held her back from doing something she'd regret.

"Just get on with it," Rose told DJ.

After a silent moment in the cockpit, DJ extracted one of his mysterious gadgets from his pockets and wired it into an exposed panel on the yacht’s console.

“Cloakin' our ap-p-proach,” he said. “We should b-be off their scopes. Now we slice a s-slit in their shield and s-slip through. ‘Slice a slit in..’—hm. Say dat five times f-fast.”

Finley was in no mood. “Just do it.”

“Done,” DJ said.

As the yacht approached, the First Order ships grew from points of light to recognizable shapes.

DJ accelerated and Finley looked at him in surprise, but the thief just shrugged.

“We got da cloak,” he said. “It works? Nobody sees us, we live, the doin' gets done. If not? Ah figure j-just skip to da b-big boom.”

And with that DJ grinned and wiggled his fingers, miming an explosion.

Finley glared at him, still angry about Rose’s medallion.

The _Supremacy_ was a wall ahead of them that expanded until its blunt prow filled the viewports.

Finley realized she was holding her breath and forced herself to breathe, overcome with a sudden anxiety about as they passed under the endless underside of the ship as it passed over them, covering them in shadow.

Her duty rotation had included assignments aboard Snoke’s flagship, but she’d never seen its exterior—she’d come and gone from it aboard a transport, sealed inside a stormtrooper’s helmet.

Finley felt guilty. She had known of the _Supremacy_ 's existence, that it was out there somewhere, lurking in the Unknown Regions of the galaxy, just as she’d known about so many other things she’d seen in her years of First Order service.

When she’d arrived on D’Qar there’d been no time for a thorough debriefing. There’d barely been time for her to tell General Organa and her officers about Starkiller Base before she’d left with Han Solo and Chewbacca aboard the _Falcon_ to rescue Ben.

Had she come back from Starkiller cognizant and aware instead of in a coma inside a bacta suit, stashed in a storeroom aboard the Raddus, she'd have warned the Resistance then.

An alert flashed and Finley spotted the dots of fighters on the _Libertine_ ’s scope—but immediately realized their heading would take them nowhere near the yacht. She tried to locate the fighters through the viewports, wondering what their mission could be. There were only three of them—if the First Order were attacking the Resistance fleet, they would have emptied their hangars.

“They’re going after something,” Finley realizdd

“S-somethin' dat ain’t us,” DJ said. “Almost there, b-buddy. And ch-ch-check it—dat’s our spot.”

DJ pointed, then guided the yacht to a tiny port on the underside of the _Supremacy,_ and the yacht slipped inside it and into darkness.

***

**The _Supremacy_ , Deep Space **

Kira Ren strode into one of the Supremacy's hangars when she was alerted of an incoming escape pod. It would normally be a straightforward procedure : blast it out of space in case it turned out to be a bomb or a deserter.

But Kira didn't even need her insight into the Force to know who was inside. Only a Solo could be so reckless as to head into a battle with an escape pod instead of out of it.

Nevertheless, she had sensed his presence in the Force from the moment his junk-heap freighter heaved itself out of hyperspace. His signature had been a steady pulse all the way up to when the pod opened with a hiss of vapor.

The stormtroopers behind her stood ready, but she just smiled at the sight of Ben crammed into the pod’s tight confines, wearing the Jedi garments she remembered so well.

“So good of you to come, Ben Solo,” Kira welcomed, her gaze falling to the Skywalker saber. “And I see you've even brought me a gift.”

Ben gripped the saber tightly as Kira appraised it with covetous eyes.

“If you like this...” Ben grinned, glancing at the weapon before snapping his gaze back to Kira. "Then you should see my other lightsaber."

Kira blushed slightly and smiled, jerking her head at the soldiers filling the hangar.

Ben clambered out of the pod with blasters trained on him as he held the hilt out to her, as if daring her to take it.

Kira's eyes narrowed, unsure if he was up to something. She then reached out for for the weapon sitting motionless in Ben’s steady hand, her beautiful face momentarily uncertain.

Ben winked at her, and she snatched it away and gestured curtly for a First Order officer to approach with binders.

“Moving a little fast, aren't we?,” Ben said as the binders clasped around his wrists. "Bondage already?"

Kira turned and beckoned him to follow her into the depths of the massive flagship. “We have an appointment.”

Behind them, the accompanying stormtroopers’ armor rattled. Ben could feel their anxiety and fear—not of him-- but of the mercurial, unpredictable Kira Ren.

Ben himself began to feel a little uneasy. The last time they met, Kira was naked-- her body and soul bared before him, her hair let down and free.

But now she was guarded once again, clothed in darkness in more ways than one. Ever her hair seemed as restrained as she was, styled as before in her tight triple buns.

Kira stopped at a lone turbolift ringed by stormtroopers and she curtly dismissed the guards.

The doors shut and left Ben alone with her. She was still contemplating the lightsaber in his hands.

He nodded to her. “You don’t have to do this.”

“I do, Ben," Kira replied, not looking at him.

“No,” Ben said, eyes intent. “Look at me, Rey.”

She looked up from the lightsaber with her own uncertain, lost eyes.

“When we touched, I saw your past, ” he told her. “Flashes of every horrible thing you went through because of _him_. You will not have to bow before Snoke ever again. You will turn—I’ll help you."

He watched the emotions chase themselves across her face, echoed by jitters and spikes in the Force. Anger. Confusion. Pain. Loneliness. Longing. Sorrow.

Then she lifted his eyes to his. There was a renewed, fanatical strength in her voice when she spoke.

“You’re wrong,” Kira replied. “When we touched I saw something, too. Not your past—your future. And because of what I saw, I know that when the moment comes, you’ll be the one to turn. You’ll stand with me." 

As Ben stood speechless, Kira gave him the lightest peck on the cheek as the turbolift doors opened with a hiss and she led him into the throne room, where Snoke, the Supreme Leader of the First Order awaited them on his throne.

Hate roiled from Kira as Snoke's six black-clad, armored Knights of Ren stood on either side of the throne, weapons at the ready. He felt it too, he wanted to murder every single one of them for what he'd seen them do to her in Kira's memories.

In contrast, Snoke himself was almost slouching—indolent in his golden robes, secure in the safety of his sanctum.

But his eyes were piercing and hungry. Ben tried to avoid them, but his gaze was like a lodestone, dragging his attention involuntarily from the Knights to him. Their pull was akin to what he’d felt near the pit on Ahch-To.

Snoke grinned hungrily at him and he found he couldn’t look away until the Supreme Leader fixed those dreadful, bottomless eyes on Kira instead.

"Well done, my good and faithful apprentice,” he said, the voice deep and slow. "My faith in you is restored.”

Then his gaze pinned Ben once again.

“Ben Solo, Heir of Vader. Welcome.”


	40. Mutiny

**The _Raddus_ , Deep Space **

The _Raddus’_ s hangar was filled with transports—Poe counted thirty of them, enough to evacuate every member of the Resistance who’d survived the evacuation of D’Qar.

Various crew members scurried around them, preparing them for flight—and sneaking looks at the gathering to the side of the hangar, where a small group of pilots led by Poe Dameron had approached Vice Admiral Holdo and her officers with an urgent message.

“So a stormtrooper and a who-now are doing what?!” Holdo exclaimed, trying to process what she’d been told.

“Trying to save us. This is our best hope of escape. You have to give Finley and Rose all the time you can!” cried Poe, looking over Holdo's shoulder at her officers to somehow appeal to them. No luck: they just stared at him coldly.

“You have bet the survival of the Resistance on bad odds and put us all at risk,” Holdo fumed. “There’s no time now.”

She turned to her officers. “We need to get clear of this cruiser—load the transports.”

As the transports’ doors hissed open, Poe and C’ai exchanged a look.

“I was afraid you’d say that,” Poe said, and drew his blaster. The other pilots unholstered their own weapons along with him.

“Admiral Holdo, I’m relieving you of your duty for the survival of this ship, its crew, and the Resistance,” he said with gritted teeth.

The officers behind Holdo looked shocked and angry, but the admiral simply gave Poe one of her appraising glances.

Poe tensed. Then Holdo raised her hands. After a moment, her officers did the same.

“I hope you understand what you’re doing, Dameron,” she warned.

"Crystal clear, Admiral," Poe said coolly. He turned to his fellow mutineers. “I’m going to the bridge. If they move, stun ’em.”

***

 **The _Supremacy_ , Deep Space**

The aperture DJ located led to a laundry room, ran by auto-valet droids, of all things.

Finley, Rose, and DJ picked out freshly cleaned and pressed First Order officer's uniforms and the shined and polished boots, belts, and caps to go with them.

Rose hoped that they wouldn't get found out, considering how out of place they looked and felt, but Finley assured her that hierarchy outweighed  
everything else in the First Order—unquestioning obedience was rewarded, and independent thought punished. As long as they walked the walk and talked the talk, they wouldn't be found out.

There would be caveats though: Because the code cylinders that adorned their uniforms were set to unregistered status in the wash because the officers who wore them forgot to take them off, they would have to avoid the four major security checkpoints on their way to the tracking-control room.

Compounding that, they would have to be wary of officers in white uniforms, as they were members of the First Order Security Bureau, aka Loyalty Officers, and it was their job to be suspicious and look at faces, not rank insignias.

The laundry room was deep in the Supremacy’s lower levels, near the huge warship’s stern. During the first few minutes of their journey toward the distant tracking-control room, they encountered no one-- just a lone mouse droid that regarded BB-8 curiously before letting out a puzzled but otherwise cheerful chirp. 

Finley remedied that by putting a rectangular trash bin over the droid, to a derisive beep by BB-8 and a roll of the eyes by Rose.

They soon made their way to a turbolift, avoiding the glances of officer and stormtrooper alike as they stepped aboard, just as a long-nosed, scowling man in a white tunic and suspicious, darting eyes spotted them. And rolling next to him, a First Order BB-series astromech. 

The man was First Order Security Bureau. And he was looking right at them.

The doors closed, and the three imposters and their unconvincing garbage-can droid were left inside with a half-dozen stormtroopers.

The turbolift ride was tense, and DJ had his hand on his blaster the entire time.

Rose just looked dead ahead. Even sealed inside their helmets, Finley swore she could feel the stormtroopers' breath on her neck.

Thankfully, the turbolift ride ended within incident and the three saboteurs and their curious mobile garbage bin hurriedly exited out of the double sliding doors.

“Let’s get to that tracker—fast,” Rose muttered, heart racing.

“Right around the corner,” Finley promised. "Almost there..."

* * *

**The _Raddus_ , Deep Space **

There were just a few officers on the _Raddus_ ’s temporary bridge, beneath the Mon Calamari cruiser's pointed bow. And none of them were prepared to see Poe, Connix, and several other Resistance pilots storm in with their blasters drawn.

The Resistance officers looked aghast, but Threepio looked up from a monitor as if nothing were amiss.

“Ah, Captain Dameron,” the protocol droid greeted. “Admiral Holdo is looking for you.”

“We spoke,” Poe replied impatiently, nodding at his fellow mutineers. “Get them down to the hangar.”

The officers were escorted out. Threepio watched them go, confused, as Poe studied the bridge consoles.

After several anxious moments of searching, he found what he was looking for. He powered down the transports in the hangar.

Everything was proceeding according to plan. But none of it would mean anything unless Finley and Rose had found a way to shut down the First Order hyperspace tracker that kept the Raddus in their sights.

* * *

**The _Supremacy_ , Deep Space **

As Finley rounded the corner, she was had a paranoid sense of certainty that she had made a mistake somewhere, leading them anywhere but the tracking control station.

But no, ahead of them the corridor ended at a huge, armored door. Beyond it, though the viewports, she saw rows of computer banks and huge circuit breakers.

“This is it,” Finley held her breath, both relieved and anxious.

DJ studied the door control. “Gimme a mo."

“Good time to figure out how we get back to the fleet?” Rose asked.

Finley considered that. “I know where the nearest escape pods are.”

“Of course you do,” Rose snarked with a playful shove.

Finley rolled her eyes.

DJ pulled Rose’s medallion out of his coat and pushed it into the innards of the control panel.

“Haysian s-smelt,” he said. “Best c-conductor."

A moment later he tossed the medallion to Rose.

“Yer welcome,” DJ said, dismissing them with a brushing motion of his hand as they stared at him in astonishment.

Beneath the trash barrel, they heard a muffled voice—which Finley realized was Poe’s.

A moment later, BB-8 extended a mechanical arm from beneath the bin, flipping the comlink in Finley’s direction.

“Poe, we’re almost there,” Finley announced. “Have the cruiser prepped for lightspeed.”

<Yeah, I’m on it.> Poe replied over the comlink. <Just hurry!>

“Is this going to work?” Rose asked nervously. “It seems like it’s actually going to work.”

“Almost there,” DJ said intently.

* * *

**The _Raddus_ , Deep Space **

Poe hurriedly input coordinates into the Raddus’s navicomputer. They needed to be close enough to a world where the Resistance could communicate with its allies and acquire more fuel.

If Finley and Rose's codebreaker came though, there'd be no way the First Order could track them again.

Threepio was staring at him now with his ever-wide, expressionless cybernetic eyes. “Sir, I’m almost afraid to ask, but—”

“Good instinct, Threepio," snapped Poe. "Go with that.”

Then motion from the hangar caught his eye on the monitor. Smoky vapor was spilling out of a fuel hose, pierced by flashing rings of stun beams.

"Oh shit!" cried Poe.

Holdo had made her move—Poe could see her in the middle of the firefight, directing her loyalists.

“Seal that door!” he shouted to a pilot by the entrance to the bridge.

The pilot did so, overriding the controls to lock out anyone trying to enter from the other side. Now all Poe could do was wait.

Threepio began to head toward the door. Poe watched the protocol droid in disbelief.

“Threepio, stay away from that door,” Poe warned him.

C-3PO turned indignantly. “It would be quite against my programming to be party to a mutiny. It is not correct protocol!”

Sparks flew from the juncture of the bridge doors as someone began cutting through from the other side. Threepio hastily shuffled in the opposite direction as quickly as his servomotors allowed.

Poe exchanged a glance with Connix, then looked worriedly at the sparking door.

“Finley?!” he yelled into his comlink. "Rose?!"

* * *

**The _Supremacy_ , Deep Space **

“Now or never!” Finley called to DJ.

“Now,” DJ replied lazily, then stepped back.

The door opened. Finley and Rose rushed in, with DJ and BB-8 trailing closely behind.

Rose eyed the circuit breakers, tracing the pathways of power conduits.

Something hissed on either side of them. Two doors opened and the black BB unit from before rolled inside, its electronic eye fixed balefully on them.

A dozen stormtroopers rushed in, blasters drawn. Behind them came the white-clad security officer that spotted them at the turbolift.

Finley looked grimly at the stormtroopers as they clattered into the control room. There were far too many of them even to think of starting a firefight.

Then a new sound reached her ears—a familiar and deeply hated one to Finley. The slow, measured tread of armored feet.

Captain Phasma walked into the control room, rifle cradled in her chromium gauntlets.

“FN-2187,” she said smugly. “So good to have you back.”

* * *

 **The _Raddus_ , Deep Space**

Poe was still trying to process that he’d just heard his friends being captured when sparks began to fly from the doors to the _Raddus_ ’s temporary bridge. He fumbled for his blaster as the doors groaned open.

Holding his breath, he and the others then waited for the smoke to clear, keeping their blasters leveled at the bridge entrance.

Leia Organa walked through the smoke in her hospital gown with the aid of a cane, her steps still a bit shaky, her face grave.

Relief flooded through Poe at the sight of her. He lowered his blaster.

Before he could say anything—how happy he was to see her, how horribly wrong everything had gone without her—Leia raised her blaster and stunned him.

Connix's wide eyes darted from Poe's unconscious body to Leia to the other mutineers, and they slowly raised their hands in surrender.


	41. The Evil of Snoke

**Snoke's Throne Room, The _Supremacy_ , Deep Space**

Snoke waved a large, bony hand and Ben’s binders parted and clattered to the floor as the smuggler-turned-Jedi glared at him.

“Come closer, Solo,” he said.

Ben refused him and Snoke reached out with the Force, willing him forward, but Ben stood his ground, shaking with the effort.

“So much strength,” Snoke said, savoring the currents of power in the room and the chaos of their collisions. “The strength of a Skywalker. The strength of _Vader_..."

Another seemingly offhand gesture and the Skywalker saber ripped itself free of Kira's grasp, tumbling past Ben to smack into Snoke’s hand.

He turned the weapon gently, admiring both the skill of its construction and the kyber power within it.

“So much history...” he said. “Did you know that your grandfather purged the Jedi with this very weapon?"

Ben didn't respond. He knew. He saw it when he first touched the saber. But he refused to give Snoke the satisfaction of letting him get under his skin.

Snoke snorted, setting the lightsaber down on the throne’s armrest and he once again pinned Ben with his gaze. “Closer, I said.”

Ben resisted him again, but this time Snoke didn’t limit himself to testing his defenses. He used the Force to compel his body, yanking him inch by slow, unwilling inch toward him across the polished floor.

***

**The _Raddus_ , Deep Space **

“That one’s a troublemaker,” Holdo said as she checked over Poe Dameron's unconscious body as she and Leia oversaw the loading of people and supplies on the departing transports. “I like him.”

“Me too,” Leia said with a knowing nod. “Now board your transport.”

Holdo raised an eyebrow at her old friend. “For the transports to escape, someone has to stay behind and pilot the cruiser.”

Leia fixed her with a look Holdo knew all too well, having seen it many times over the years, from the Senate chambers to the command centers of the Resistance. Her friend was marshaling her arguments and preparing to give a speech. Holdo had no doubt that it would be an effective one.

But the time for speeches was over.

“I’m afraid I outrank you, Princess,” she said, gently but pointedly. “And an admiral goes down with her ship.”

Leia stopped and her chin dipped.

“Too many losses,” she said quietly. “I can’t do it anymore.”

“Sure you can,” Holdo replied, and Leia looked up in surprise and sadness. “You taught me how.”

There was no use arguing, and Leia knew deep in her heart that Amilyn was right. That realization didn't make her parting words any easier.

"May the Force—” Leia began, only to hear her friend was saying the same words.

They stopped, deferring to each other.

“You take it,” Leia said with a sudden laugh. “I’ve said it enough.

“May the Force be with you. Always,” Holdo said with a sad smile.

Leia put her hand on her friend’s arm as the first transports rose from the hangar’s deck and headed for space.

"May the Force be with you," murmured Leia quietly to herself as Holdo turned and headed towards the bridge.

She remembered saying those same words to her son not too long ago. She had faith in the Force that he was coming back.

Sadly though, she couldn't say the same for Amilyn Holdo.

* * *

**Snoke's Throne Room, The _Supremacy_ , Deep Space **

Ben tried to resist, commanding his feet to remain firmly planted on the floor of Snoke’s throne room, but even with his determination, he was pulled closer and closer to the Supreme Leader.

As on Takodana, with Kira Ren, Ben found that both his mind and body had been invaded and overwhelmed. But this was even worse than that, worsened tenfold. But if his father taught him anything, it was to bluff and trash talk until the end.

“You... underestimate me,” Ben warned Snoke, his voice strained by trying to keep his distance. "And you underestimate Rey...hhrr...It will be your downfall!"

Snoke’s eyes glittered with feral amusement. Few things were more entertaining to him than an opponent who mistook a little bit of knowledge for the entire picture. Their downfalls were so much more satisfying—provided that before the end, they were confronted by the sheer scope of their folly.

He studied Ben, still futilely struggling against the will of his superior, and decided he had time to teach him this final lesson.

"Oh?” Snoke asked, radiating mock concern. “Have you seen something? A weakness in my apprentice? Is that why you came?”

He laughed at the dawning horror on his face, and the the boy made no attempt to hide it. There  
was nothing he could hide from him—not even with his mighty Skywalker strength. Not even his thoughts—his deepest fears and secrets—were safe from him.

“Young fool,” Snoke said. “It was I who bridged your minds and appealed to your base desires. I stoked Kira's conflicted soul. I knew she couldn't hide it from you—and you were not smart enough to resist the bait.”

Kira Ren had remained kneeling in the throne room as Snoke tormented Ben, her face an impassive mask. Now she looked up in surprise, her eyes locked on her master.

Snoke ignored the pleading look on Kira’s face—just as he ignored the sickly waves of pain, confusion, and rage that rolled out from her into the Force.

But he did not ignore those same emotions in Ben's face. His shock at learning Snoke’s role in forging his connection with Kira had disrupted what meager defenses he had.

With his concentration broken, Snoke dragged him to his throne, his face paralyzed just Inches from his own.

"Y-you b-b-bastard," seethed Ben through his teeth.

Holding Ben pinned there, Snoke considered Kira.  
He had seen his apprentice’s enormous potential when she was still a child— having failed to exploit the latent power of the Skywalker bloodline.

Ever since that failure, he had searched for another as strong in the Force as the young Solo. In that search, Snoke found it in the most unexpected place: a young girl abandoned on the backwater world of Jakku, whose outburst of desperate power plucked her fleeing parents from the sky.

He almost had her thereafter, if it wasn't for the interference of Luke Skywalker and Snoke's failed conquest in Ben Solo.

That all changed when her anger and sorrow echoed throughout the Force when her childish infatuation with Solo proved to be an unrequited one, spying him in the throes of a passionate tryst with another padawan.

Her mind was rife for the taking then... he twisted her feelings of inadequacy, abandonment, and betrayal, laying the foundation for her turn. All he needed was the final catalyst-- and that catalyst was her other would-be savior: Jedi Master Luke Skywalker.

He filled her dreams with darkness, of the future he saw for her, casting a baited line for Skywalker to bite. Betrayed yet again, with seemingly nothing to lose and nowhere to run, the girl lashed out as predicted.

Meanwhile, he orchestrated Skywalker's final downfall, sending Ren and his Knights in to slaughter the fleeing survivors.

The Knights took her, breaking her down even further so Snoke could remold the shattered pieces of her psyche as he saw fit.

And remold her he did. He had a prodigy in the Force, and a viscous killing machine that was eager for praise and acceptance-- rewards he would give sparingly to motivate her to greater heights.

He knew of the Knights' abuse of her, and kept them as his loyal guards to spite her and fuel her darkness with memories of pain and hate. Even in defeating Ren and commanding them as their leader, the Knights still commanded _her_.

Mistress, Ha! _Mistress_ indeed.

Snoke turned his attention back to Ben, still struggling to fight something he had no hope of defeating.

It was a pity about the boy, whose rich and storied bloodline intrigued him. Solo's survival of the temple and reawakening in the Force was unexpected, as was Kira Ren's still lingering emotional attachment to him.

Trying again to bring him into the fold was an intriguing idea...Hmm... _Kylo_ _Ren_ had a wonderful ring to it. 

But in defeating his apprentice in a duel at Starkiller, Snoke saw that he needed to approach Ben Solo's acquisition from a different angle. He could not seduce Solo to the Dark Side the way he did Kira Ren. He would take advantage of Kira's desire for him and seduce him to the Dark Side with, well, _seduction_.

But alas, as he rifled through his mind, Snoke saw he was too much like his father, the scoundrel Han Solo. Too compassionate like his Uncle Luke. He was no Vader as he had hoped, and thus any use he had for him was regretfully nil. He had one final service to perform, after which he could be discarded.

“And now you will give me Skywalker,” Snoke told him. “Then I will kill you with the cruelest stroke.”

He saw horror in his eyes—followed by stubborn defiance.

Defiance that would be snuffed out soon enough.

“No!” Ben managed.

“Yes!” Snoke replied, exultant. He raised his hand and hurled him across the room with the Force, then held him in the air as he smashed aside his mental barriers and began rifling through his thoughts and memories, making them his to do with as he pleased.

The skin at Ben’s temples pulsed in waves, a physical manifestation of the violent intrusion into his mind.

“Give me _everything_..." Snoke commanded.

The very air between them bent and vibrated as Snoke harnessed the Force and made it his weapon.

Ben thrashed in pain, screaming and seeking an escape that didn’t exist.

Kira could feel Ben's pain and panic in the Force, his emotions overwhelming her and mingling with her own helpless fear and anger at being used so callously.

She desperately wanted it all to end. But she could not intervene. Instead, she lowered her head and awaited her master’s command.


	42. Betrayal

**Resistance Transport, Deep Space**

Poe woke up slowly and then all at once.

First his eyelids fluttered as consciousness returned. Then he sat bolt upright, panicked, as pieces of his memory returned and he got his waits about him.

Danger. Jump to lightspeed. Save the _Raddus_. Hold the bridge.

The first thing he saw was the backs of Resistance uniforms—soldiers, techs, and pilots, as well as various droids and astromechs. Then, behind them, he saw viewports.

Beyond that: deep space—and the bulbous shape of the _Raddus_ , rapidly shrinking.

“No!” Poe gasped, struggling to his feet. Heads turned to regard him, and his fellow Resistance members looked at him in varying degrees of concern, pity, or anger.

Someone was calling his name. It was Leia. General Organa.

It all came back to him—his relief at seeing Leia enter the bridge ahead of the Resistance fighters loyal to Admiral Holdo, followed by the sight of her raised blaster and the blue concentric circles of energy that had knocked him out.

“Poe!” Leia said again. “Look!”

He found her, standing in front of the windows on the other side of the transport, near Threepio and a group of officers. She was beckoning him over.

Poe forced his legs to work—his muscles were still tingling and twitching, numbed by the after-effects of the stun blast.

The officers made room for him and Leia took his hand—Poe wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be a gesture of comfort, an apology, concern for his shaky legs, or all three.

At least she wasn't tossing him out of the nearest airlock.

Filling the viewports on this side of the transport was a pale white planet adorned with dark streaks.

“What is that?” Poe asked. “There are no systems anywhere near us.”

“No charted ones, no,” Leia replied. “But there are still a few shadow planets in deep space. In the days of the Rebellion we used them as hideouts.”

“The mineral planet Crait,” D’Acy interjected, studying the bright globe below them.

“There’s a rebel base there?” Poe asked.

“Abandoned but heavily armored,” D’Acy explained. “With enough power to get a distress signal to our allies scattered in the Outer Rim.”

“The First Order’s tracking our big ship,” Leia said. “They aren’t monitoring for small transports.”

Now Poe understood. The transports were small—not much more than seventy or so feet long—and simple craft like that had an output of relatively little energy. The Resistance techs aboard the _Raddus_ had worked feverishly to install bafflers that reduced that energy output even further. With the First Order content to pursue the _Raddus_ at a distance, its sensors could easily miss the stream of small craft departing the heavy cruiser.

“We’ll slip down to the surface and hide unnoticed until they pass,” he said excitedly. “It’ll work.”

But with a start, he immediately realized something else: It would only work if First Order focused their attention on the _Raddus_. The transports would escape, but unfortunately, the heavy cruiser would not. And neither would anybody who’d stayed aboard.

Poe had a pretty good idea who that was.

“Why didn’t she tell me?” he asked Leia plaintively.

Leia’s eyes were gentle. He felt her fingers working at the cuff of his jacket and looked down to see she’d taken the beacon from around his wrist, restoring it to its place around her own.

“The fewer who knew, the better,” she said sadly, adjusting the beacon. “Protecting the light was more important to her than looking like a hero.”

Contemplating that, Poe turned to look back out the window, at the rapidly shrinking shape of the doomed _Raddus_.

***

**The _Supremacy_ , Deep Space **

Captain Phasma marched through the corridors of the _Supremacy_ at the head of a cordon of stormtroopers who surrounded Finley and Rose.

The thief DJ skulked alongside the column, obviously ill at ease.

Finley glanced at Phasma. Being a woman, Phasma was especially hard on her and the other female stormtroopers, expecting them to represent their gender well in a military force dominated by men.

She could only imagine the hell that Phasma had dreamed up for her.

The journey ended in a huge hangar prepared for war. Dozens of TIE fighters were fueled and ready, tethered to their support lines.

Troop transports waited to receive soldiers. Scout walkers stood in front of heavier, four-legged war machines, which were attached to the drop ships that would bring them planetside.

And a full stormtrooper regiment stood in parade formation.

At the head of the troops was a man Finley recognized all too well—General Armitage Hux.

Phasma led the prisoners right up to the thin, pale, red-headed man who was visibly seething as he paced to and fro.

Rose shot a look at Finley, who forced herself to remain expressionless.

In Finley's experience, Phasma was undoubtedly brutal and pitiless-- as the years of service under her could attest to-- but she was also disciplined and pragmatic.

General Hux, on the other hand, was insane: irrational and perpetually enraged.

Hux eyed Finley, a muscle jumping in his sallow cheek, and then backhanded the former First Order stormtrooper.

Even-tempered and expressionless, Finley braced herself for a further assault, but Hux appeared content with the gesture—or, perhaps, the slap had hurt his hand worse than he’d expected.

“Well done, Phasma,” he spat. “I can’t say I approve of the methods, but I can’t argue with the results.”

The general’s eyes then locked onto DJ, who looked very much like he wanted to be elsewhere.

The _Libertine_ slipped through the hangar’s magnetic field, its landing gear extending as the sleek yacht settled to the deck.

At Hux’s command, First Order officers guided a repulsor pallet up to the ship. Atop it stood stacks of black crates.

“Your ship and payment, just as we agreed,” Phasma told DJ.

Rose moved so quickly that Finley flinched. But there were too many stormtroopers between her and the slippery thief. They intercepted her and held her fast, but she kept thrashing wildly.

“You lying motherfucker!” Rose screamed at DJ.

“We g-got caught,” DJ said. “Ah c-cut a deal.”

Finley looked at him in horror. “Wait. Cut a deal with what?”

Inside the hangar, another First Order officer marched up to Hux.

“Sir, we checked on the information from the thief,” he said. “We ran a decloaking scan and sure enough, thirty Resistance transports have just launched from the cruiser.”

Hux regarded DJ. He looked both impressed and surprised. “You told us the truth. Will the wonders never cease?”

The First Order general returned his attention to the officer.

“Our weapons are ready?” he asked.

“Ready and aimed, sir.”

Holdo’s plan might well have worked, Rose thought— the First Order would have concentrated their assault on the large shape of the _Raddus_ as the Resistance transports escaped. The _Supremacy_ 's sensor crews-- tired and complacent after so many hours of pursuing the same target along the same course-- would have missed them completely, especially due to the transports' energy dampeners.

But now those crews would know where to look and what to look for. And the Resistance transports were slow, sluggish to maneuver, unarmed, and protected by only shields designed for planetary entry, not to hold up against cannon fire.

It would be an absolute slaughter.

Finley had reached the same conclusion. “No!” she exclaimed, horror on her face.

“S-s-sorry, ladies,” DJ mumbled with a shrug.

“Fire at will,” Hux told the commander, gleeful with triumph.

“No!” Rose screamed, lunging at Hux this time. But the stormtroopers were wary of her now, and there were too many of them.

The Resistance was going to be destroyed, and there was nothing she or Finley could do about it.


	43. Fulfill Your Destiny and Kill Your True Enemy!

**Snoke's Throne Room, The _Supremacy_ , Deep Space **

Ben could feel Snoke in his head, his consciousness a like a sentient computer virus, carelessly sifting and sorting through his memories like information files.

The Supreme Leader must have taught Kira this ability, he realized. But he was far more skilled than his apprentice. Ben was unable to push back against him—his mere presence threatened to overwhelm him. And unlike with Kira, he had no sense of that mind being left open to him. Snoke’s presence felt like a black hole, a void, cold and dark—sucking in and letting nothing out.

Random bits of memory came back to him as the Snoke scrutinized them and cast them aside. Here he was as a boy, sitting in the co-pilot's seat as his father did spins and swoops with the _Millennium Falcon._ Lightsaber sparring with Uncle Luke as a young Rey watched in awe. An intimate moment with Tai in a sunlit meadow.

He could feel Snoke's revulsion at those happy memories, so the Supreme Leader turned to the darker ones.

Ben as a young boy, waking up from a nightmare of Snoke's own design. Ben, much older bursting out of the forest to see the Jedi temple ablaze. Watching as his father was struck by Kira's deflected blaster bolt and finished by a nameless, faceless stormtrooper. Finley being defeated by Kira in the snowy forest. 

Holding a lightsaber hilt out to his Uncle Luke in mute appeal.

He felt Snoke's interest quicken at that last moment burned into his mind. That was what he wanted: his uncle's island, and the planet of which it was a part of, and what it was called and how he had reached it.

Ben tried to blank his mind, to shut him out, to fight him off. None of it worked. Snoke found what he wanted, took it, and discarded him.

He found himself on the floor of Snoke's throne room, writhing in pain, consumed by deep and utter hatred for the foul alien abomination.

Snoke just laughed at him.

“Well, well,” Snoke sneered, his slow voice oozing satisfaction. “I did not expect Skywalker to be so wise. We will give him and the Jedi Order the death he longs for. After the rebels are gone, we will go to his planet and obliterate the entire island.”

Ben raised his hand toward his stolen family lightsaber, sitting next to Snoke on the arm of his throne. He willed it into his hand—and it flew into the air, in a perfect arc that would end in his grasp.

Watching Ben struggle against him, Snoke smiled. Calling a lightsaber into one’s hand was such a trivial use of the Force— nevertheless, he admired the boy’s resolve. He was beaten but still persisted.

Snoke twisted his fingers, altering the weapon’s path so that it smacked Ben in the back of the head—then spun and continued back to its place beside him.

“Such spunk,” he said, feeling the hatred swelling in Ben and savoring it.

It was too bad, really. The boy's power and inner darkness could have been refined and sharpened, forging him into a potent weapon. In another time he would have made him such a superb apprentice.

“Look here now,” he said, summoning the Force to drag Ben across the room.

The red curtains of the throne room parted, revealing a curved bank of viewports. Before one of them was a lens-like oculus. Forced to stare into it, Ben saw the Resistance fleet has been reduced to one warship and a collection of small transports. The smaller ships were exploding, obliterated one after another by the First Order’s guns.

“The entire Resistance is on those transports,” Snoke said. “Soon they will all be gone. For you, all is lost.”  
Ben turned from the window, teeth bared, eyes blazing.

“And still that fiery spit of hope,” Snoke said mockingly.

Ben’s hand reached out again, fingers splayed, and Snoke could feel the Force in motion around him. This time, her target wasn’t the Skywalker saber—but Kira Ren’s double ended one.

This unexpected, desperate act caught Snoke’s apprentice by surprise. Her lightsaber flew off her belt and across the room, the Knights tensing at its flight, to land in Ben’s hand.

He ignited an end, the crimson blade a snarl of energy, and ran at Snoke.

The Knights sprang forward, weapons raised, but Snoke stopped them with a casually raised hand, chuckling at the sight of Ben, scarred face bathed in the light of the crimson blade.

“You have the spirit of a true Jedi,” he told him—then used the Force to fling him across the floor.

He landed hard, groaning, and the lightsaber clattered and spun across the floor to land at Kira's feet, spinning like a top.

“And because of that you must die,” Snoke said, turning his shark-like eyes to Kira.

His apprentice had barely moved since delivering Ben, but her emotions had been simmering when she arrived, and begun to boil when Snoke revealed that he was the creator of Kira’s mysterious connection with Ben Solo.

Then the tumult had ceased, replaced by an eerie calm and focus. Snoke had been surprised, but pleased. 

“Kira Ren, my dark and worthy apprentice, ” Snoke praised. “Where there was conflict, I now sense resolve. Where there was weakness, strength. Complete your training and fulfill your destiny.”

Kira rose, her unlit lightsaber in one hand and the other held behind her back.

Step by step, she advanced on the helpless Ben. Snoke used the Force to hoist him to his knees, arms pinned back.

He eyed Kira's face, wary that her carnal tryst with the Solo boy had strengthened her attachment to him, but instead it seemed the experience was enough to have purged the interest from her completely, as her face was cold and determined.

“Rey!” Ben called out desperately.

Kira stopped once Ben was within reach of her blade. It was as if the two were in the forests of Starkiller Base again-- with Ben defeated and on his knees before her awaiting the final strike-- and she had a second chance to avenge her initial failure.

“I know what I have to do,” she said, her voice emotionless.

Snoke laughed. Bridging their minds had been a gamble, one he had weighed for some time. But it had worked even better than Snoke had hoped. It had fooled the boy into revealing his uncle Skywalker, but it had also forced Kira to confront her weaknesses.

By eliminating Ben Solo, she would be excising that weak and flawed half of herself, snuffing out the Light and leaving only the Darkness.

Ben's eyes were pleading. But Kira wouldn’t even look at him.

Snoke could feel that her attention was focused on what she had resolved to do.

“You think she will turn, you pathetic little boy?” Snoke asked Ben. “I cannot be betrayed. I cannot be beaten. I see her mind. I see her every intent.”

“Yes!” Snoke purred, closing his eyes to savor the moment. “I see her turning the lightsaber to strike true. And now, foolish boy, she ignites it and kills her true enemy!

It was the last thing Snoke, Supreme Leader of the First Order, ever said.  
  
Kira had indeed rotated the hilt of her lightsaber so an end was pointed directly at Ben's chest. But even as she did so, the Skywalker saber was rotating silently on the armrest of Snoke’s throne—unnoticed by either the Supreme Leader or the Knights of Ren.

When Kira's fingers twitched behind her back, the blue energy blade of the Skywalker saber sprang into existence, spearing Snoke.

Then, with a flick of Kira's index and middle fingers, the blade carved through her master, cutting him in two, and flew through the air into Ben's open hand as Kira ignited both ends of her own lightsaber.

Kira and Ben had a moment to lock eyes. Then the six black-armored Knights of Ren were blurs of motion— each brandishing a different deadly weapon. It was too late to save their master, but they could at least avenge his murder.

Back-to-back, Kira Ren and Ben Solo received their charge.


	44. Rebellion

Far away from the coup in the _Supremacy_ 's Throne Room, Finley watched as DJ casually counted his money in a hangar prepped for war, like he had all the time in the world.

The thief had his credits and his ride, yet he lingered, sifting through the crates the First Order had left for the Libertine to bear away.

His reward was hard currency-- of course-- that the First Order plundered from worlds they had occupied. DJ had seen enough of the galaxy to know an electronic balance was just an arbitrary arrangement of pixels, and even an account could disappear with a few keystrokes.

Suddenly it was all too much for Finley. The yacht alone was enough to finance a fairly decent retirement, after all.

“You murdering bastard!” she roared, struggling to break the stormtroopers’ grip on her.

DJ looked up from counting his spoils, surprised at her outburst.

“Oh, t-take it easy, Finny,” he said lazily. “They blow ya up today, ya blow 'em up t-tomorrow. It’s just b-b-business.”

“You’re wrong,” Finley said as the thief turned his back on her and Rose.

“Maybe,” DJ replied with a shrug.

And then it hit Finley—DJ would learn too late just how wrong he was.

Finley was naive, but even she knew enough that there were double-dealers around the conflict—arms dealers and financiers and grifters like DJ, drawn to the allure of money and wealth.

But this conflict was bigger than those pursuits. This conflict was a cyclical one between those who believed in freedom, with all its messiness and uncertainties, like the Rebel Alliance and the Resistance; and those who worshipped order, and saw murder on an unimaginable scale as a fair price for that order, like The Galactic Empire and its successor, the First Order.

And everyone in the galaxy, even those who considered themselves separate from it-- like DJ and his ilk-- were caught up in that conflict, whether they wanted to admit it or not.

There were no bystanders and no neutrals.

One could pretend that the regime didn’t exist, or simply rationalize its excesses away, like so many in the New Republic did before the First Order wiped out the Hosnian System in one supernova blast.

A regular at one of Canto Bight's casinos could seek to insulate themselves through wealth or connections; or a coward could flee it and hide, hoping that it would crush people other than them.

And all of those things were easy to do. The harder thing by far in troubling times like these was to fight—to attract that murderous regime’s attention, and become an object of its malice.

Those who chose those easier options were hoping that the monster they had ignored would eat them last.

Finley had fought. It had taken her a while to understand that running wasn’t an answer, but she had figured it out. She had fought to save Ben, at first, but Rose had been right—this was far larger than one person, or two, or two trillion.

And so Finley was going to fight for her too. And for Poe, who was the first person to see beyond the shell of her stormtrooper armor. He gave her a name, an identity beyond a sequence of identitification numbers.

She was going to fight for all of them, all the way to the end, even if she lost. And she wouldn't trade any of it for all the coins in that fancy stolen yacht.

***

General Hux watched coldly as Finley struggled in his troops’ grasp. FN-2187’s defection had been much more than an embarrassing reversal to the training program that had begun with Hux's own father—this one traitor had prolonged the Supreme Leader's search for Skywalker and had given the Resistance crucial intelligence that had led to the destruction of Starkiller Base.

Hux saw the renewed fire in her eyes. He would have to snuff it out. He could consign her to an interrogation chamber to prolong the pain, or simply kill her and be done with it. But alas, soon, very soon, FN-2187’s treachery would no longer matter.

He eyed the young woman next to the deserter, also wasting her time battling his troops. He had no idea who she was—but the medallion peeking out of the neck of her stolen uniform struck him as familiar.

Hux stepped closer and saw he’d been correct.

“The Otomok system?” he asked, grabbing the struggling woman’s face to force her to look at him. “That brings back memories. Oh... you vermin may draw a little blood with a bite now and then, but we’ll always win.”

Hux savored the fury in her eyes—at least until she bit him, hard, drawing blood from the meat of his palm and hanging on like an angry pitbull.

He yelped as the stormtroopers dragged her away from him, spitting and snarling like a mad beast.

Hux stared at the half-moon of punctures on his hand-- undoubtedly infected by the filthy woman. He looked up from the bite and saw an insolent grin cross her face.

His temper flared again, and he allowed himself a brief moment to calm down. He entertained the idea yet again of sending both of them to the detention level for extensive interrogation...

But no, his first instinct had been correct. Traitors and insurgents were vermin, and far beneath his notice. He’d lingered too long as it was—a leader of his stature had far more important duties to attend to.

Still, his hand hurt.

“Execute them both!” he ordered, then strode out of the hangar.

***

DJ strode into the cockpit of the _Libertine_ , his pockets jangling with coins.

The First Order was nice enough to let him keep the uniform, as his other clothes were abandoned in the laundry room.

Not quite his style, but they would do.

He fired up the engines and lifted off from the hangar, glad to have gotten out of there alive.

As he got far enough away from the Supremacy, he glanced at the Raddus in the distance trying to shield the Resistance transports being picked off by the massive First Order flagship and buzzing TIE Fighters.

It was a shame really. Finny and Rosey were nice enough-- a little naive and abrasive-- but otherwise good folks with good intentions.

Too bad they came across a guy like him, who would sell them out for a cuppa caff.

DJ looked away from the massacre and began to punch in the coordinates to jump into hyperspace.

By the time he noticed the cannonfire coming from the _Supremacy_ \-- a gunner thinking he was a deserter or a stray rebel perhaps-- towards his stolen ship, it was too late.

"Oh s-s-shi---"


	45. Let the Past Die

Snoke's Knights of Ren advanced on Kira and Ben in silence, their faces concealed by the various faceplates on their black helmets.

The two Knights with the firearms-- Cardo with his deadly arm-cannon and Kuruk with his precision double-barreled blaster rifle-- advanced first, firing at Kira and Ben right out of the gate while the other four Knights circled menacingly around them.

The pair were pinned down, dodging Cardo's arm-cannon and Kuruk's riflefire.

Ben leapt at Cardo, Force pushing his arm-cannon away before running him through with his lightsaber.

A plasma blast from his arm-cannon hit a machine, setting a fire that began to eat away at the red curtains.

Ben chanced a glance at Kira as Ushar with the war-club and Trudgen with the enormous vibro-cleaver rushed him. She had separated her saberstaff into two weapons-- and with her dance-like movements with her twin lightsabers, she had successfully deflected a bolt at Kuruk with a swipe of one blade and decapitated him with the other.

Her face was triumphant, but it would be replaced by anger and determination as Vicrul with a wicked scythe and a short sword and Ap'lek with an executioner's ax came stepped up to challenge her.

Assured she could more than handle herself, Ben's attention now focused on Ushar and Trudgen. He could hear a hum from their weapons and realized they were enhanced by ultrasonic generators. And there was something else—not a sound, but a sensation he could feel as a throb in his teeth and sinuses.

It was an intense magnetic field, probably generated by the Knights’ armor. If proximity to it affected Ben this way, it had to be a source of constant pain for the Knights encased in that armor.

A means to keep them attuned to the Dark Side, Ben deduced. Snoke was a cruel bastard, using pain as a tool of control.

Ben shifted his feet, raising her lightsaber to meet Truden’s vibro-cleaver as he tried to split open his skull. He expected the lightsaber to cleave the weapon apart, but it merely blocked the blow, and the impact sent painful vibrations shooting up his arms and into his shoulders.

Ben fell back and dodged the segmented swing of Ushar's war hammer. He could hear Kira's lightsabers spitting and crackling behind him, and her grunts of effort.

Trudgen aimed a slash at his knees, which he sent wide, then turned his block into an arcing slash at his the Knight's face. It nicked the brim of his Vader-like helmet and he stumbled away, regarding him with newfound respect.

He offered him a snarl—only to duck as he sensed Ushar aiming a war hammer blow at his face.

Ben fell backward, bumping into Kira’s back.

Kira's lightsabers rose and fell, wheeling in sweeps as the Ap'lek and Vicrul came at her from a bewildering variety of angles with their trio of bladed weapons.

There were too many attacks to keep track of, suddenly, and she felt her heart begin to hammer. She was usually relatively calm in combat--channeling her fury into controlled action-- but she was ashamed to admit that the Knights were giving her a strong anxiety. She remembered them coming at her a child, beating her, tearing at the meager rags they gave her to wear so they could defile her yet again...

Ap'lek rushed at her with his staff-like executioner's ax she brought a lightsaber crashing down on its middle—just as Vicrul disarmed her of her other lightsaber by hooking the blade with his vibro-scythe. 

Kira pushed Ap'lek back with a burst of the Force as Vicrul began slashing at her with his scythe and short sword. Kira shifted her feet to redistribute her  
weight, then brought her lone lightsaber up in a blur, knocking aside a vicious slash from Ap'lek's humming executioner's ax.

She hadn’t seen the thrust coming—but the Force had warned her.  
  
A flurry of chops from the humming lightsaber pushed back Ap'lek. Kira exhaled, clearing her mind of their tormenting memories and opened her mind to the Force, and the room seemed to snap into focus.

Focus sharpened, she leapt back into the fray.

Ben sensed Kira's excitement, and her hunger—as if she were a beast finally freed to confront her tormenters.

He felt the guards’ hatred of her, mixed with a disgusting sense of lecherous, violent lust. They wanted to overpower her and do unspeakable things to her in retribution for killing their master. Ben wanted to rush to her, but he then heard a clatter of armor as one of the Knights, Vicrul, went down behind him, felled by Kira.

Ben's attention split, Trudgen and Ushar rushed Ben at once, their vibro-cleaver and vicious war hammer flashing. The war hammer knocked around the blade of his lightsaber, but he recovered in time to and bat Trudgen's vibro-cleaver away before it could split him in half.

Ben reached out with his hand and shoved Trudgen backward with the Force, then found himself spinning in the other direction. Ushar's war hammer missed broadly, his arms outstretched in front of Ben.

Ben brought the lightsaber down hard on the armored arms and the blade hacked through them, the vibrations in his arms vanishing as the blow interrupted the armor’s mag-coils and shut off the field.

Trudgen backed away as Ushar crashed to the floor.

Ben risked a look at Kira and saw her locked in combat with Ap'lek, who was keeping her at bay with measured sweeps of his ax. A mortally wounded Vicrul belly-crawled away from the exchange.

Ben wanted to warn her, but he had to dodge another broad slash from Trudgen. He couldn't quite get close enough to the Knight to land a strike on him, as the Knight would slash in wide arcs with the enormous blade and use the cleaver's blade as a shield of sorts when he managed to get close enough.

Ben took a deep breath, and focused on the Force. For years he had relied on his own skill and wits to get him through fights, but he was fighting Force Sensitives now.

Almost like in slow motion, Ben anticipated a wide upward slash from Trudgen's vibro-cleaver. Ben ducked low and spun on his heels like an ice skater, reversing the grip of his blade to impale Trudgen's sternum.

The guard collapsed on Ben's back, and he rose, shrugging the guard off.

A strange sound reached his ears—and he felt a sudden spike of fear in the Force.

Vicrul's last act of life was to fire Kuruk's rifle at her, knocking the lightsaber out of her hands and distracting her long enough to allow Ap'lek to put her in a headlock, forcing the edge of his weapon closer to her throat.

Ben saw Kira’s lightsaber lying on the floor where it had been dropped. She had one hand on her enemy’s  
weapon; the other, empty, was flailing for purchase.

Her eyes bulged in panic. He could sense that she was flashing back to an occasion when Ap'lek had raped her like this, his ax across her throat.

“Rey!” Ben called, hurling his lightsaber across the room.

Kira raised her hand and the lightsaber smacked into it as if drawn there. Kira looked at the ancient weapon like a lifeline, her eyes blazing. She ignited it,  
then turned it off almost as quickly.

Ap'lek slumped to the floor, a smoking hole in his ghoulish black helmet.

Kira sunk to her knees, shaking, staring into space, tears falling numbly down her face.

The deck of Snoke’s throne room thrummed, and the air was lit by the glow of turbolaser fire. Ben rushed to her, sliding to his knees as he went to hold her.

“Rey!" he called. "Rey! It's over! They're dead. Snoke's dead. They'll never hurt you again."

Kira glanced up at Snoke's bisected corpse and then at the Skywalker saber in her hand, still trembling.

"No," she whispered.

"Rey?" Ben asked.

"No," Kira said in a stronger, more determined voice, looking up at Ben, her eyes wild. "It isn't."

Ben took her face in his hands. "We killed Snoke. We killed the Knights. We have to save the Resistance fleet before it's too late. There's still time."

Kira stood up, and Ben stood up with her. Above them, the First Order banners burned.

She once again stared at the lightsaber in her hand. "It's not over. There's one more. Luke Skywalker."

"No," Ben replied firmly. "Please don't go this way."

"He deserves to pay for what he did," Kira said determinedly. " _He_ is responsible for the hell they put me through."

She jerked her head to Snoke's halves and the Knights' scattered corpses.

"The ones responsible are dead, Rey," Ben reminded her. "Just let the past die. Please. Snoke. Luke, the Order. Jedi, Sith. All of it. Come back with me. Let me help you."

"No!" snapped Kira. "First we eliminate Luke Skywalker for his crimes and his cowardice. And then bring a new order to the galaxy, where no one will suffer like we did! We can rule together! You and I!"

Ben stared at her in disbelief and horror. “Don’t do this, Rey. You’re still holding on. Let go!" 

Kira advanced on Ben, the Skywalker lightsaber held loosely in one hand. But there was no threat in her approach.

" _You're_ still holding on, Ben," Kira replied. "You're still holding on to this childish fear that you will become another Darth Vader. Why? Embrace it. Finish what he started!"

"My grandfather was an evil man who did evil things," Ben hissed. 

"You were a criminal, too, Ben," Kira pointed out. "A smuggler."

"I didn't slaughter children," Ben shot back, frowning.

"You stole from them," Kira reasoned. "Indirectly, you stole from them. Now, imagine a future where no child went hungry or was sold into slavery or slaughtered under the noses of so-called free republics. A future of order. Our Order. Our _Galactic_ _Order_!"

"No," Ben shook his head.

"I saw it," Kira's eyes were fanatical again. "I saw that future. With you. Together, on the throne of our new Empire. You're no Vader, Ben. But you can be greater than he ever was. You can be an Emperor! Emperor _Kylo!_ That's the name! I saw it. I felt it!"

In her eyes Ben saw himself clad in black, cape flowing, a black and silver helmet shrouding his face. Kira looked up at him in adoration as they stood atop a balcony of a warship's massive hangar. Below them, white-armored stormtroopers as far as the eye could see.

"Snoke showing you wanted to see," Ben speculated. That had to be the answer. It had to be it.

Kira ignored him. She was too far gone in this vision she saw. She stretched out her hand to him.

"Join me. Please.”


	46. Nowhere to Run

As Hux departed from the _Supremacy_ 's hangar, surreptitiously shaking the hand Rose had bitten, the stormtroopers drove Finley and Rose to their knees.

Phasma stared down at them, and Rose realized she could see herself in the First Order captain’s chrome mask, small and distorted like a funhouse mirror.

“Blasters are too good for them,” Phasma sneered. “Let’s make it hurt.”

Rose looked over at Finley, who was trying to break the stormtroopers’ grip on her, and had a strange thought: At least she was dying beside her.

It was true that she’d wanted to murder Finley for the first few hours after meeting her, which obviously wasn’t the best start to any relationship.

But they’d fought together on Canto Bight and in the very heart of the First Order. They’d fought for the Resistance, despite Finley’s initial reluctance.

And they’d fought for each other. Somewhere along the line, Rose had started to trust her. And more than that, she’d begun to care for her.

“On my command,” Phasma began, and the stormtroopers holding them in place shifted in anticipation.

Did Finley know what Phasma had in mind for them?

Rose glanced over at her, and the look on her face made her wish she hadn’t.

* * *

Captain Peavey stood at attention on the _Supremacy_ ’s bridge, watching as yet another Resistance transport vanished into flame.

The Mon Calamari warship’s captain had clearly hoped that the transports fleeing its hangar would go undetected at such long range-- a gambit that might have succeeded-- if not for a tip from a double-dealing codebreaker to zero in on trace emissions in the cruiser’s vicinity.

Once the _Supremacy’_ s crews had made use of the tip and analyzed the emissions, it had been relatively straightforward for them to home in on the transports' signatures, discover the ruse, and begin picking the fleeing ships one by one.

Still, Peavy had a nagging feeling as the Raddus began to come about and turn.

For the most part, The Raddus had been seen as no longer a danger-- its guns were no threat to the First Order flagship and its shields were too strong for First Order turbolaser blasts to penetrate-- and thus nothing more than a distraction from the targeted transports.

He had expected the Resistance captain either to jump to hyperspace in the hope of drawing off the First Order pursuit, or to make a suicidal attack in order to buy time for the transports.

It appeared the captain had opted for the former, though the captain had to know it was far too late for that tactic to succeed.

As Peavy pondered that, Hux swept onto the bridge, looking agitated. His boot heels rang on the polished deck.

“Sir, the Resistance cruiser is preparing to jump to lightspeed,” a monitor called up from one of the crew pits.

Peavey turned an inquiring glance at Hux, hoping the hotheaded young general wouldn’t do something rash.

“It’s empty,” Hux sneered. “They’re just trying to pull our attention away. Pathetic. Keep your fire on those transports.”

***

**Resistance Transport, Crait System**

Poe watched in despair as another transport was destroyed. Just six remained—six unarmed, defenseless ships between the First Order and galactic domination. He tried to imagine anything that might change their fate, but there was nothing.

Poe then felt Connix's hand on his shoulder. She was directing his attention to a sensor screen to the Raddus.

“Our cruiser’s priming her hyperspace engines,” she cried. “She’s running away!”

“No she isn’t,” Poe said.

There was nowhere to run, and Holdo knew it. Besides, Poe had been on the bridge. There’d been no courses loaded into the navicomputer—until he’d  
programmed one himself.

He knew what Holdo planned to do.

* * *

**The _Supremacy_ , Crait System **

Ahead of the _Supremacy_ , the Mon Calamari warship was turning, its bulbous nose swinging around, back toward the First Order task force that had harried it for so long.

Peavey waited for the ship to vanish, followed by the telltale twisting of space and burst of radiation that marked a hyperspace wake. He couldn't imagine where the heavy cruiser might be heading.

It was a futile effort. He doubted the cruiser had enough fuel for another jump once it arrived. Once these last few Resistance transports had been eliminated, the First Order could retrieve the warship at their leisure.

But the cruiser hadn’t jumped. Peavey leaned forward, curious, and then realized his other officers were doing the same—horrified realization etched on their faces.

They knew what the captain of that ship planned to do.

“Oh no,” Peavey said.

“Fire on that cruiser!” screamed Hux.

***

In the ruined throne room, Ben regarded Kira’s pale hand, held out to him in supplication.

He wanted to take it. Force, he wanted to take it. He wanted to take her hand and pull her close and steal her far away from this.

But she was too far gone. She was mad, speaking fanatical nonsense, either trying to convince him or herself-- or both of them-- that the future she saw was reality.

Ben felt deeply for her, and he wanted to help her, but it couldn't be, wouldn't be like this. Not at the forefront of the First Order war machine when his mother and his friends needed him. Not at the forefront of the war machine that took his father.

No.

Ben reached out with his own much larger hand —and before Kira realized his aim, he had snatched the Skywalker saber out of her grasp with the Force.

The weapon tumbled toward his hand—and then froze in midair.

Kira, her entreaty rejected, had flung up her own hand, harnessing the Force to arrest the lightsaber’s flight.

The weapon hung in the air between them, quivering faintly. Ben stared at it, willing it into his grasp. But Kira was pulling it toward herself with equal determination.

Between them, the lightsaber shivered and danced.  
They stared at each other, eyes locked. Kira had tears streaming down her cheeks, face reddened in betrayal and rage.

Ben's eyes brimmed with tears of his own, as much for her as for the exertion of what he was doing.

The Force heaved like the sea on Ahch-To, whipped into a fury by their attempts to manipulate it.

The kyber crystal at the heart of the weapon seeked a resonance, trying to find harmony where there was only dissonance.

Caught in their tug-of-war, the crystal seemed to keen in the Force, a wail that Ben could feel in his bones. He and Kira were sweating and panting now, neither willing to give so much as a fraction of an inch in their standoff.

Until, finally, the crystal sheared apart, its unleashed energy tearing the lightsaber’s housing in half and filling the throne room with a flash of brilliant, blinding white.

***

The second she heard the tramp of boots, Finley knew what Phasma had ordered for her and Rose.

Executioners.

Chosen at random and anonymously, executioner troopers were tasked with with enforcing the unquestioning obedience that was the duty of every single First Order stormtrooper.

The executioners advanced, wearing the armor reserved for them: a helmet with a black stripe, black carbon shoulder bells, and a chest plate with black markings.

Rather than blasters, they carried laser axes with energy filament blades that could cut through anything.

Finley always hated the stuttering buzz of the ax's energy filaments-- and each time she’d drawn execution duty, she’d hope beyond hope that the day would end without her having to carry out such an order.

She now wondered if the troopers chosen today had hoped the same thing.

“Execute,” Phasma ordered.

The whine of the axes changed in pitch as the executioner troopers raised them for the killing stroke.

Before the weapons fell, the world exploded around them.


	47. Rebel Scum

**Resistance Transport, Crait System**

From his post at the port viewports of one of the six remaining Resistance transports, Poe saw the _Raddus_ elongate into a streak of light that shot through the _Supremacy_ , shearing it in two and leaving a fiery trail to mark its ruinous passage through the fleet.

Soldiers and crewers aboard the transport cheered and hugged in celebration, but Poe and Leia remained silent and solemn, weighed down by Holdo’s brave and selfless sacrifice.

Poe wished too late that he and Holdo could have gotten on better, and that he hadn't been so wrapped up in his own pride and ego, putting her entire plan in jeopardy. 

Though ripped in two, the First Order flagship continued to hurtle through space along its last heading—the _Raddus_ had passed through it with such astonishing speed that what was left intact barely slowed.

Were Finley and Rose still on that ship? Did they live through that? He could only hope. 

He felt Leia's hand on his shoulder. Poe placed his hand on her's, and the transports, now unhindered, flew on.

***

**The _Supremacy_ Wreckage, Crait System **

"Would you wake the hell up, girl?!" came a voice, strained with the effort of exertion. "I'm not not quite built for dragging dead weight around!"

When Finley's eyes fluutered open, she discovered that Rose was struggling to drag her across the starship’s deck.

Finley shook away the cobwebs out of her head and scrambled to her feet next to her, blaster raised.

Around them, all was chaos—thick smoke filled the hangar, the bodies of stormtroopers littered the floor, and sirens blared.

"I'm "dead weight" now?" Finley grumbled, cocking an eyebrow at Rose.

Rose grinned. "Well now you're just "weight"."

BB-8 inclined its head at Finley, whistling and beeping in concern.

"Yeah, I'm okay, BB-8," Finley replied with an accusing glance at Rose. "At least someone cares."

Rose shrugged. "I could've left you in the wreckage. Instead I gave myself a hernia. You're welcome."

Finley looked around, trying to figure out what had happened. She'd been preparing for her final moments... and then the hangar had shook, hard enough that all the stormtroopers crashed to the deck around them. An enormous sound had filled her ears, the hangar, everything.

And then darkness.

"Well, let's not wait around for something else to kill us!" cried Rose, yanking on her hand, pulling her toward a First Order light shuttle that looked intact.

"Good idea," Finley quipped. "I never heard of a journey aboard half a ship ending well."

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the hangar, sending BB-8 flying and forcing the girls to duck.

Finley spotted a flash of reflected fire and her stomach swooped. A moment later Captain Phasma emerged from the smoke, two dozen stormtroopers arrayed behind her.

The troops fanned out, blocking the girls' route to the shuttle, their rifles raised.

Just then, the girls stumbled backward from an eruption of heat and light that sent stormtroopers hurtling in all directions.

Amid a thunderclap of sound, Finley looked over to see a two-legged scout walker struggling to free itself from its moorings. As it fired another barrage of shots, the cables holding it in place ripped away the walker’s cabin, revealing BB-8 at the controls.

The now headless scout walker stomped across the hangar, looking like it was going to topple over with every step.

Finley held her breath BB-8's walker stumbled about, but then it opened up on the stormtroopers with its chin guns. Every blast sent the troopers flying.

“That crazy droid’s given us a chance—let’s go!” Rose yelled.

Finn looked at BB-8 's walker in a combination of shock and gratitude- and then she ducked a laser blast from the stormtroopers, seeking cover with Rose behind the hunks of debris littering the hangar.

As her stormtroopers hurried to set up a cannon that could take out the scout walker, Phasma strode across the hangar with her rifle raised.

Rose sent a hasty volley of shots her way, but they went wide as Phasma rushed their position.

One of the executioners’ axes lay on the deck where its wielder had abandoned it. Finley scooped it up, slashing down at Phasma’s head as she raised her rifle. She saw the blow coming and raised her blaster to intercept it.

The ax cut her rifle in two. Finley grinned vindictively as her former commander tossed the useless halves of her weapon away. But before she could press her advantage, Phasma yanked a short steel baton off her utility belt. A quick whiplike motion extended it  
into a double-ended spear as long as she was tall.

“You were never anything more than a bug in the system,” she told her, voice dripping with contempt.

“Let’s go, Chrome Dome!” Finley yelled back, taking a wild swing with the ax.

Phasma blocked it and nearly ran Finley through with the spear, forcing Finley to give ground.

Behind the captain, BB-8's scout walker was taking apart the hangar piece by piece, the surviving stormtroopers forced to flee from its destructive fire.

Snarling under her helmet, Phasma whipped her spear at Finley, alternating vicious jabs with slashes aimed at her head, chest, and legs.

Finley parried with the haft of the ax, sparks leaping with each impact, looking for an opening in Phasma's defenses.

But there wasn’t one—she was both faster and stronger than she was. It was all she could do to keep the ax between the two of them as Phasma rained blows on her from every direction, driving him steadily backward and forcing her to dodge to avoid  
tripping over the bodies of stormtroopers killed by whatever had damaged the warship.

Phasma was maneuvering her toward a shaft in the hangar floor, Finley realized— probably a lift for bringing heavy equipment up from a lower level. Flames were licking out of the opening like the pits of Hell.

Finley tried to dodge sideways, but Phasma intercepted her and it was all she could do to raise the ax at the last possible second before the captain split her skull open, breaking Finley's ax in half.

“I tried to mold you into something special and formidable!” Phasma roared, the staff in her mailed fists. "But you were always disobedient and weak!"

Finley tried to grab the spear as Phasma brought it back down on her, but she knocked her backward, into the heat and wind boiling up from the _Supremacy_ ’s depths.

Vaguely, Finley could hear Rose's shrieks as she fell, and her last though before she hit the rising turbolift platform was only of her.

Phasma turned and regarded Rose for a moment, but then a moment later Finley emerged from the flames like a phoenix, riding atop the turbolift platform she’d landed on. With a roar of defiance, Finley aimed a vicious uppercut with her broken ax at Phasma's head.

The blow knocked Phasma down and split her mask open. Through the shattered chrome, Finley could see a bright blue eye in a pale face.

“You were always scum,” Phasma spat.

“And you were always a fucking bitch,” Finley replied coolly. "And that's "rebel scum" to you."

A moment later the floor collapsed around her former commander. Phasma fell, vanishing into the fire as Finley looked on, a look of resigned triumph on her face.

The hangar shook, an ominous vibration rolling through it.

BB-8 maneuvered the scout walker near Rose and she scrambled atop it.

“Hey, need a lift?” she yelled at Finley, praying she’d hear her.

Fortunately, she did, and Finley leapt atop the walker, which stomped across the hangar as flames rose from vents and conduits around them.

Finley frowned at the reference to their former associate. She let it go. If she felt better the betrayal and nearly dying by joking about it, then so be it.

“We need to go and we need to go now!” Finn yelled as they abandoned the walker and hurried for the ramp of their prospective shuttle.

“Working on it!” Rose yelled back.

“Can you fly this thing?” Finley asked, suddenly remembering when she and Poe escaped from the _Finalizer_ on the stolen TIE Fighter.

"It'll be okay," Rose replied.

Hopefully this escape ends better than _that_ one.

“Would you rather stay here?” Rose asked.

The hangar shuddered and a gantry came loose from its moorings above, slamming to the deck behind them. BB-8 whistled urgently.

“It’ll be okay,” Finley grumbled.

Rose winked at her. “That’s the spirit.”

She hurried into the cockpit and was relieved that the shuttle powered up immediately.

Rose yanked back on the controls and the shuttle jerked off the deck. It shuddered as one wing scraped the wall of the hangar.

Finley put her hands over her eyes.

“You’re not helping!" snapped Rose as she leveled the shuttle. "I’ve got it now!”

"Then friggin punch it!” Finley yelled.

Rose hit the accelerator and the shuttle leapt forward, flames rising around it. It quivered as it passed through the magnetic field that kept the hangar’s atmosphere contained, then steadied.

Rose dipped its nose, leaving the doomed First Order  
warship in their wake.

After the chaos of the hangar, the silence in the cockpit was somehow unnerving—all three of them simply sat for several moments, the only sound Rose’s and Finley’s ragged breathing and the rolling of BB-8's circular body on the shuttle's floor.

“So where are we going?” Rose asked.

Finley’s eyes turned to the white expanse of Crait.

“Where we belong."

***

Ben Solo's eyes snapped open with a start.

He had been lying on his back for an indeterminate amount of time after the blinding flash of light... and then darkness. The events of leading up to it played in his mind as he came to, and his body ached from his ordeal here in the throne room... or what was left of it.

The bodies of the bisected corpse of Snoke and his Knights of Ren were strewn about, surrounded by rubble and smatterings of fire and smoke. The red curtains had completely burned away, leaving the starry blackness of space that was eerily quiet and still.

Amidst all that was Kira Ren, still unconscious, lying on her side as if she was asleep.

He sat up, groaning as he did so. He fumbled around for his lightsaber. His heart sank as he found it as broken in half as the fallen Supreme Leader was just a few yards away from him. He put the halves in a pocket on his belt and stood all the way up.

A few feet away he found one of Kira's lightsabers. He picked it up and walked over to her, wondering what his next move should be.

She was still dangerous, and with Snoke gone, she'd likely try to take his place. Pragmatically, he should end her when he had a chance. 

But he couldn't. He could never. Ending her now would be not only be severing her life, but severing their bond and a peice of himself with her.

He felt horribly like his uncle for a moment, standing over the sleeping girl with a lightsaber, contemplating her life or death.

Ultimately though, Ben dropped her lightsaber at her side and sank to his knees beside her.

As foolish and potentially suicidal as the gesture was, he took her face in his hands and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

The Force still had plans for them. He knew it, he could feel it, and in time, the Force would reveal those plans. Until then...

"When you're ready, Rey," Ben murmured. "I'll come back for you, sweetheart. I promise."

With that, he gently laid her head back down on the throne room floor, and fled the wreckage for a way off the dying ship.


	48. Aftermath

The doors of the turbolift to the Supreme Leader's throne room opened and General Armitage Hux stepped out. 

Like the rest of the _Supremacy_ , the throne room was a scene of unfathomable carnage. Snoke’s alien navigators had fled, his fearsome Knights of Ren were dead, and the Supreme Leader himself lay crumpled in a heap in front of his throne. Kira Ren, motionless, was sprawled nearby.

A single glance was enough to tell Hux that Snoke was dead. But Kira was merely unconscious, her chest rising and falling.

Hux stood over the Supreme Leader’s body in shock for a long moment, trying to process everything that had happened and calculate everything that could happen next.

The Supremacy--The First Order’s flagship—its mobile capital, the crown jewel of the most feared fleet in the galaxy, and so much more besides—was doomed.

Yet the Resistance had been reduced to a pathetic handful of ships trapped on a backwater world. The imminent end of the _Supremacy_ would change surprisingly little about the balance of power in the galaxy.

But one thing was certain: The First Order would need a new Supreme Leader. Snoke was dead. Kira Ren was not.

Moving quietly and carefully, Hux stepped away from the Supreme Leader’s corpse and looked down at Kira. His hand crept to the pistol in his holster.

Kira stirred, her eyes fluttering, a feminine groan escaping from her throat.

Hux turned the move for his blaster into scratching at a phantom itch on his leg and took a step back.

When Kira's eyes opened, she would find the general looking down at her with apparent concern.

“What happened?” Hux asked.

It took Kira a moment to gather herself. “Solo murdered Snoke."

The throne room lurched sickeningly around them. Hux knew what that meant— the complex technological systems that maintained the _Supremacy_ and kept it running smoothly were failing. They had to hurry.

But Kira was confused, staring out in disbelief at the mangled half of the flagship and the wrecked Star Destroyers beyond it. Hux marched over to a sealed door, studying the readout next to it.

“What happened?” Kira asked, seeing his expression. "Where is Solo?"

“Snoke’s escape shuttle is gone,” the general replied. He gestured to the wreckage of the throne room. " _This_ is the result of a suicide maneuver by the Resistance heavy cruiser to aid the fleeing transports."

Kira considered that. Ben had recovered first. He must have realized she was at his mercy, yet he’d left her alive.

Betrayer. His sparing her life was a pittance. He killed her. He ripped her heart out and ran it through.

She would do the same to him. She would systematically destroy everything he cared about until he felt the same pain she did. Then and only then would she consider him again, after he begged on his knees for forgiveness.

“We know where Solo is going,” she snapped at Hux. “Get our forces down to that Resistance base. Let’s finish this.”

The general fixed her with a look of disdain. “Finish this? You presume to command my army? We have no ruler. The Supreme Leader is dead!”

Kira's eyes flashed.

She raised her hand swiftly, commanding the Force and directing it to coil around Hux’s throat like an invisible noose.

“The Supreme Leader is dead!" Kira shrieked.

Hux could feel himself being lifted off the ground, his airway closing, the world around him going gray.

“Long live the Supreme Leader,” Hux gasped, his sunken eyes bulging out of his head.

Kira released him, the gesture offhand and almost contemptuous, leaving Hux to crash to his knees, gasping for air.

"Lady Ren," Hux panted, staring at the ground.

Hux saw a flash of red, and a crimson blade from Kira's rejoined lightsaber pointed between his watering eyes.

"I will no longer be referred to by that slave name," Kira hissed. "My name is _Rey_. So. Let me hear you say it again, General. _Say my name_."

"Long live Lady Rey, Supreme Leader of the First Order," Hux spat, glaring up at her.

Rey looked down on him with the same disdain he gave her. However, a brief smirk crossed her face. "Long may she reign."

***

**Snoke's Escape Shuttle, Crait Atmosphere**

The Supreme Leader's custom First Order escape shuttle hung in space, bathed in the dazzling light reflected from the surface of Crait.

The command shuttle’s was much more spacious and luxurious than a standard escape shuttle, considering its original intended occupant, the eight foot tall Snoke.

Ben had slipped away from the two halves of the _Supremacy_ to a vantage point far from the First Order task force and the planet below. As long as he did nothing foolish, he knew, the craft’s low profile and sensor countermeasures would keep him safe from detection until Chewbacca and the _Millennium Falcon_ arrived.

When he arrived, Ben quickly boarded the freighter and they took off to the cover of the mountains and waited for the Resistance to arrive.

As Ben slumped into a the co-pilot's seat, Chewbacca grunted a greeting. The porg that Chewie had brought with him from Ahch-To squawked up at him from the dashboard.

"Yeah, didn't work out," Ben sighed. He explained the ordeal on the _Supremacy_ to his uncle, and the two sat in silence for a moment before the Wookiee spoke.

"Reminds me of a woman your father knew once," Chewie said. "Qi'Ra. She too chose power over love."

" "Qi'Ra" ?" Ben snorted. "You're pulling my leg."

"He wanted to save her from a life of misery on Corellia, but he failed," Chewie explained. "Later on, when Han and I got mixed up with a dangerous crime syndicate, he found she was _working_ for those people. Han being Han, he wanted to save her again. And he almost did."

"What happened?" Ben asked.

"She didn't _want_ to be saved," Chewie explained. "Together they killed her boss... and she then took over her boss's syndicate. The rest is history."

"So you're basically saying that history is repeating itself?" Ben laughed despite himself. "That my "Kira" doesn't want to be saved either?"

Chewie barked out a Wookiee laugh.

"Yeah, well I ain't gonna give up on her," Ben declared. "I know I too failed to save her, and when I came back to her she was a changed person, no longer a girl, but a woman. But I got got something Dad and that Qi'Ra woman never had."

"The Force?" Chewie asked.

"Yeah," Ben looked straight ahead out of the _Falcon_ 's cockpit windows. In the distance he could see the last of the Resistance transports arriving, closely followed by the first arrivals of the First Order's forces. In just a few moments it would be showtime.

Ben took a deep breath. "Rey and I always shared that. The Force. And Force tells me it ain't over. The Force still has plans for us. Our destinies are intertwined, whether we like it or not."

Chewbacca gave him a sidelong glance. "You sound as much like Luke as you do your father."

Ben cocked an eyebrow. "I'm not sure how I should take that."

"The moment your uncle found out that Darth Vader was his father; he didn't stop believing that he could be turned," the Wookiee shrugged. "And he did. If you trust that the girl can be turned, who am I to tell you otherwise?"

Ben nodded. "Thanks, Uncle."

Chewie growled. "I'm older than both of you Solos combined and twice over and you still prove me wrong. Just use the head on your neck and not the one between your legs the next time you chase after her. Okay, boy?"

Ben grinned. "Sure thing."

Chewie ruffled Ben's hair with his massive frying pan‐sized hand. "Bullshit."

Ben glanced out into the window again. It was time. He got up and headed towards the cannon turret as the porg followed him with its big bulging eyes.

Ben winked at them. "You know it."


	49. The Seige of Crait

**Crait**

The surface of Crait had vast white plains streaked with red and shot through with thin ribbons of blue, bordered by high, thin mountain ranges.

At first glance, one could mistake the vast white plains as ice cold snow, but it was in fact salt, and once a mining colony that had been abandoned due to a labor dispute that ate into the mining company's profit margins.

The mining company had built a shelter with blast  
doors to guard against crystal storms. Leia's adoptive father-- Senator Bail Organa, King of Alderaan and one of the founders of the Rebellion-- had secretly purchased the shelter when he was putting the Rebellion together, adding a shield to protect against orbital bombardment.

By the time the Rebellion had been established, the Empire had changed its patrols, and King Organa worried that ship traffic in the area would be detected. It had been considered a new principal base after Yavin Four, but complications prevented its use then.

After the Galactic Civil War, most of the Alliance’s military secrets had been turned over to the New Republic immediately after its formation, and had proven critical in the short, savage war against the remnants of the Empire.

But Leia and other rebel leaders had made sure to keep a few things back, as a safeguard against disaster. Their secret files contained navicomputer data for secret hyperspace routes, the location of rebel safeworlds, and any number of bolt-holes and equipment caches. Without them, the Resistance would have ceased to exist soon after its formation.

It had been decades, but fortunately both Leia’s codes and the blast door’s huge drive mechanisms did still work. The surviving transports flew low over a ridge and Poe spotted the grooves of trenches cutting across the salt plains, leading to a massive slab of a tower with a yawning portal set into it.

The transports came in low across the plain and set down in the tower’s gloomy interior. The last soldiers were coming down the ramp of the sixth and final transport when the first alarm was raised.

Once settled, Leia hurried to the entrance and saw what she’d feared she’d see: the dots of new ships descending through the atmosphere. Holdo’s sacrifice had slowed the First Order down and given them time to reach the planet, but the respite had only been temporary.

“They’re coming,” she said grimly. “Shut the door.”

Poe relayed Leia’s orders, shouting into the dim interior of the mine. The Resistance evacuees were busy doing any of a hundred things: unloading crates of equipment from the transports, trying to get consoles powered up, and passing out rifles and blast helmets.

“Get that shield door down and take cover!” Poe yelled.

His boots crunched through loose bits of salt, and the air had a tang that was sharp in his nose.

An eerie tinkling noise reached his ears and he spied pinpricks of light at the back of the cavernous interior, in the deep shadows beyond the transports.

There were animals back there—dozens of them. They were small fox--like creatures with long, pointy ears and drooping whiskers framing their faces. Their bodies glittered in the transports’ lights, their actually a dense covering of crystal bristles that chimed when the creatures moved.

Whatever they were, they posed no threat and weren’t hostile, just baffled that the quiet of their den had been disrupted by strange, two-legged invaders. 

Poe shrugged, amused by the curious creatures.

His amusement was short-lived, as Leia called him, and he hurried across the base’s interior, dodging Resistance crewers to stand next to her, just outside the heavy door that was slowly creeping downward. Poe silently urged it not to jam on its tracks or run out of power before it shut.

A bat-winged ship was racing across the plains, barreling directly for the base. Six TIE Fighters were trailing it. Poe couldn’t tell if they were escorts or pursuers, but the Resistance soldiers outside must have seen something he hadn’t, because they opened fire.

Poe expected the shuttle to veer off but saw at the last moment that the pilot was too desperate to do so.

Poe backpedaled frantically and dived for cover as the shuttle’s top wing struck the blast door with an earsplitting screech. The wing sheared away and the craft tumbled across the deck, scattering Resistance fighters, and skidded to a halt in a shower of sparks. Behind it, the door shut with a deep boom.

Leia picked up a rifle and started raking the front of the shuttle with blasterfire. Poe and several soldiers joined her, and the shuttle’s viewports exploded.

Someone yelled frantically and a familiar pair of hands emerged from the shattered window, raised in surrender.

“Don’t shoot!” Finley cried out. “It’s us!”

Once the firing stopped she popped her head out, next to a wide-eyed Rose.

“Finn! Rose” Poe marvelled. “You’re not dead! Where’s my droid?”

The ramp descended and BB-8 rolled out, whistling energetically.

“Buddy!” Poe said jovially, patting the astromech’s head and trying to make sense of the answering stream of droidspeak. “Really? That sounds intense. Look, we’re a little busy but you’ll have to tell me all about it later.”

Finley, still shaken, tried to get her breath. Poe gave her a tight hug, and then gave Rose a squeeze on the shoulder.

Rose looked around the base’s interior, shock and dismay on her face. Six transports, a hundred or so people.

“Is this all that’s left?” she asked Finley.

Finley shook her head and shrugged. She was just as much at a loss for words as anyone else.

“You know which end of a hydrospanner is which,” Poe told Rose, his hand still on her shoulder. “That makes you our engineering department. Follow me—we need you.”

* * *

Leia had remembered the way to the base’s control room, but she wasn’t prepared for what poor condition it would be in. Years of salt corrosion had left the controls rusty and pitted, and the musk in the air suggested the fox-like creatures had made it part of their home.

Fortunately, the guts of the base’s systems had been sheltered and shielded. A few splices, workarounds, and a hasty search for batteries got the key equipment powered up and more or less functional, or at least functional enough for what they needed it for.

Poe exhaled and nodded at Finley and Leia.

“All right,” he told the Resistance members who had been pressed into service as technicians. “Shields are up so they can’t hit us from orbit. Use all our power to broadcast a distress signal to the Outer Rim.”

“Use my signature code,” Leia said. “This base has sat derelict for thirty years— we meant this to be a hideout, not a fortress. Any allies of the Resistance, it’s now or never.”

Rose entered the control room, and Finley could see the exhaustion on her face and in the way she held herself. She was barely keeping herself together. But then that was true of all of them.

“What have we got?” Poe asked, though Rose’s expression had already told him that he wouldn’t like the answer.

“Rotted munitions, rusted-out artillery, some half-gutted ski speeders,” Rose sais with a helpless sigh.

Finley scowled. "Great. We traded being dead in space for being dead in a hole."

Poe sighed. She was saying what everyone was probably thinking. “Let’s pray that big-ass door holds long enough for help to come."

As if in answer, a boom rattled the room—deep, low, and resonant. A trickle of red dust fell from the ceiling.

After a moment, another boom rolled through the caverns. And Finley knew no barrier would keep the First Order out for long. 

A few exterior cams that had survived the long years of inactivity provided a view of the sodium plains surrounding the base, and Finley utilized them, peering through a viewing apparatus in the control room, reporting on what she saw.

Leia had been called away to record the request for help that would be beamed to the Outer Rim, and in her absence the tension in the base grew the diminished Resistance pushed beyond their limits allowed their despair to show.

Some, like Poe and Rose, at least, were filling the anxious minutes trying to find something—anything—that might change their situation. 

Poe had sent the droids to find schematics of the base and ordered techs available to get the decrepit artillery emplacements working as a last line of defense, while Rose was inventorying anything they might be able to repair and use in a fight, from speeder bikes to ski speeders.

Finley, for her part, was using the exterior cams to gather whatever intel she could on what the First Order intended to throw at them in a ground battle. She remembered what she saw in the Supremacy's hangar, and so she was certain those were heavy AT-AT walkers and even the heavy ape-like AT-M6s that the drop ships had landed.

She expected AT- STs and speeder bikessupporting troops as pickets, and TIE Fighters buzzing around to provide air cover.

Through her cams she noticed a dozen or so First Order transports descending in formation, and after a moment she saw that they were lowering a massive cylinder.

It touched down and a moment later Finley could feel the ground shake, even though the thick armored walls of the base.

Dumbfounded, she cranked up the magnification on the scope and shook her head when she saw what they had delivered.

***

“A battering-ram cannon,” Finley reported grimly. “Miniaturized Death Star tech. It’ll crack this door open like an egg.”

“There has to be a back way out of here, right?” Rose asked.

BB-8 rolled up to them, beeping. Threepio tottered along in the eager astromech’s wake. All eyes turned to the droids with whatever hope could be mustered.

Behind the two droids, Finley saw the glowing eyes of more of the curious but easily spooked crystal foxes

.“BB-8 has analyzed the mine schematics,” Threepio reported. “This is the only way in or out.”

Another impact rattled the control room as the First Order continued testing the strength of the massive door.

The faces around them were bleak with despair—even Poe’s.

Finley shook her head. He hadn’t come this far just to let the First Order win. 

“We have allies,” she reminded them. “People believe in Leia. They’ll get our message. They’ll come. But we have to buy time.”

“Time for what?” a pilot asked in despair.

“For help to come,” Finley replied. “For Ben Solo to return with Skywalker as the reborn Jedi.Time for Leia to figure out a plan, for the First Order to mess up, for a miracle ."

The faces around her began to look hopeful. Finley continued. "What are we going to do, not fight? We have to take out that cannon.”

Poe and Rose nodded at each other, smiling at Finley.

“You said the magic word,” Rose grinned, coming up to Finley for a hug.

“What? Fight?” Finley asked as they broke the hug.

Rose shook her head and gave Finley another smile, full of affection and pride. Her eyes, Finley saw, were wet with emotion. “We."

“Load up,” Poe ordered, a renewed strength in his voice. “Let’s do it.”  
  



	50. Against All Odds

Slots opened high in the shield door and the ski speeders hurtled out, their outriggers flexing in the wind.

The descent was half glide, half powered flight, and Rose fought to keep her craft stable, her stomach lurching as she tried to take in her surroundings, from the salt pan rushing up at her to the distant dots of the First Order ground forces.

Then she looked over and saw Finley halfway between panic and exhilaration by the experience of piloting a flying craft—and dangerously close to crashing into the salt.

“Hey, dummy!” she yelled into her headset. “Engage your mono-ski!”

Finley looked around, startled, and hunted for the switch. Just when Rose was certain Finley would crash, she found the control that deployed the mono-ski. It emerged from the bottom of her speeder’s engine mount a moment before their ski speeders hit the salty crust.

The impact of her own speeder’s touchdown forced the air out of Rose’s lungs, and for a moment she was sure the ancient craft would just fall apart right then and there.

But then the speeder had bounced back up onto its ski and she was racing across the white expanse next to Finley, part of a line of speeders advancing across the plains.

Their skis sliced through the layer of sodium atop the ground, kicking up a wake of crystalline dirt beneath the crust and giving each speeder a brilliant red tail that extended behind it like a flag.

Poe had to pull his foot back after a panel gave way beneath it, sending a chunk of hull plating spinning off across the plain.

“Really?! What the hell!" Poe grumbled. He never missed his X-Wing more than at this moment. "I don’t like these rustbuckets and I don’t like our odds. Keep it tight and don’t get pulled too close until they roll that cannon out front.”

Rose could see the First Order walkers in the distance ahead of them, but not the siege cannon. She reached into her jumpsuit and pulled out her Otomok medallion, hanging it from a lever on her speeder’s console.

“Ground forces, lay down some fire,” Poe ordered.

The Resistance forces in the trenches heard his order and the artillery cannons opened up, blaster bolts streaking across the salt plains toward the First Order lines. A few bolts struck the walkers, but did no damage that Poe could see.

As the wind whipped past his cockpit, Poe considered their situation—and didn’t like his conclusions.

The bulk of the First Order ground forces were the heavy AT-AT combat walkers. Each durasteeel leviathan had a massive turbolaser cannon built into the top of its back, and reinforced forelimbs designed to brace against the recoil. Their armor was far too heavy for the Resistance ski speeders’ blasters to penetrate.

Above the walkers, TIE fighters circled like vultures. And above them, Poe’s sensors picked up a lone command shuttle—undoubtedly the ship from which the assault would be directed.

The speeders’ guns were likely adequate enough to destroy a TIE or the shuttle, but Poe knew the old jalopies would be shredded like paper planes if they tried to gain altitude and engage them.

The siege cannon would be more vulnerable—or at least Poe hoped so. But the First Order was wisely keeping it behind the lines, safeguarded by the walkers. Any attack against it would have to brave both the walkers and the TIEs— which was tantamount to suicide.

It might come to that, Poe knew. But he wasn’t going to throw away his pilots’ lives unless he could see no other choice. So for now, he’d probe the First Order’s line but try to keep his squadron intact and hope the enemy made a mistake—or something changed the odds.

* * *

Poe was right about the command shuttle—it housed Lady Rey, General Hux, and several other high-ranking First Order officers, all staring down at the battlefield and monitoring sensor feeds.

Rey would have preferred to supervise the assault alone—Hux, she knew, would see the relatively straightforward operation as an opportunity for self-aggrandizement.

She itched to eliminate him as quickly as possible, but the fact remained that he had done nothing to warrant an execution, and thus she couldn't carry it out without garnering suspicion. After all, she had just seized the title of Supreme Leader-- just hours ago they were equals in the hierarchy-- and many outside of the throne room of the destroyed _Supremacy_ weren't aware of the shift in command.

For now, at least, she had every opportunity to remind the general and the other officers who was in charge.

“Thirteen incoming light craft,” Hux said. “Shall we hold until we clear them?”

“No,” Rey replied without looking at him. “Push through. The Resistance is in that mine. This is the end.”

* * *

The First Order made their move with the ski speeders still some distance from their lines, ordering the TIE Fighters to abandon their holding position over the walkers and engage. Blaster bolts churned through the sodium crust, sending up plumes of red that reminded Poe unsettlingly of blood, and one of the ski speeders burst into flame and debris.

“Fighters!” Poe yelled. “Break off!”

The speeders scattered, with TIEs swooping down in pursuit. A dozen chases weaved across the plain, leaving it scarred with crimson pockmarks and slashes carved by the ski speeders’ halofoils.

With a groan of distressed metal, Poe brought his speeder around in a tight turn, taking aim at a TIE that was looking for an opportunity to blast one of the speeders.

Finding himself too low to line up the shot, Poe yanked back on the control yoke, letting the ski speeder bounce up above the plain.

He was still too low, so he bounced the ski speeder a little higher and Poe mashed his finger down on the trigger, his laser cannon spitting fire. The TIE sheared in two, its solar panels spinning off in different directions.

Poe’s crow of triumph was cut short as he had to dodge another TIE swooping down from above, where his guns couldn’t reach.

<We can’t match this firepower!> C’ai Threnalli warned in his native tongue.

“We’ve got to hold them till they pull out the cannon!” Poe replied.

A pilot screamed as his speeder was ripped apart by cannon fire, the TIE that had destroyed it banking high above the plains. The Resistance artillery tracked it and blasted it to pieces, but the TIEs responded to that threat by wheeling around and raining fire on the vulnerable troops in the trenches.

Finley flinched as the speeder next to her was hit. She peered forward through the windscreen, blinking at the glare, and tried to find the First Order cannon amid the towering shapes of the AT-ATs. Blasts carved through the ground nearby and she weaved the speeder back and forth, hoping to confuse the TIEs’ aim.

They were losing speeders—why wasn’t Poe ordering them to go after that cannon?

Another speeder vanished in flames, its pilot’s cry dissolving into static.

“Rose! Behind you!” Finley cried as three TIE Fighters chased Rose’s ski speeder across the plains, laser cannons firing deadly bursts. Before Finley could turn to help her, the first TIE was incinerated.

Then the second one vanished in a ball of fire. Then the third was gone.

Rose dodged debris raining down from the skies, then looked up to locate her savior. Her eyes widened at the sight of a battered freighter hurtling overhead. The ship looked like it wasn’t in much better shape than the ski speeders—but somehow it maneuvered like an X-wing.

She didn’t recognize the ship, but apparently Finley did, because she let out a cheer of triumph.

* * *

Aboard the _Millennium Falcon_ , Chewbacca saw the TIEs explode and let loose with a Wookiee battle cry—one echoed by the porg sitting on the console next to him.

Meanwhile, in the lower turret, Ben wheeled and fired at more of the TIEs. Another one exploded and he bared his teeth in a predator’s grin. The First Order pilots had been so busy terrorizing their prey on the ground that they’d forgotten the sky might hold other hunters.

And Ben was in the mood to hunt. He would try not to enjoy this _too_ much.

“This is where the fun begins,” Ben grinned, blasting yet another TIE.

The Wookiee sent the Falcon spinning away from a pair of TIEs, leaving Ben perfectly positioned to bracket one fighter in his gunsights.

Ben let himself sink into the Force and allowed it to guide his actions. As two more TIEs exploded into flame, he spotted more TIEs inbound, having left their position above the First Order walkers. The fighters formed a loose line behind the _Falcon_ , jockeying for a shot at its stern.

“Uncle!” Ben yelled into his headset. “Peel off from the battle! Draw them away from the speeders!”

Chewbacca accelerated away from the battlefield, the TIEs in hot pursuit.

Ahead, a crevasse split the salt pan like a great red wound. The freighter dipped down into it and Ben stared at the walls of the canyon in amazement—they were studded with outcroppings of crystal that flashed in the sun.

Behind them, two TIEs collided, the pilots misreading each other’s intentions as they sought a safe heading through the rapidly narrowing crevasse. The explosion sent chunks of crystal spinning away from the walls. One block punctured the main viewport of a fighter, sending it spinning into the walls. Amidst the chaos, Ben peppered the other TIEs with ruthless cannon fire.

* * *

From the cockpit of his ski speeder, Poe watched in amazement as all the TIEs chased the _Falcon_ , vanishing into the skies to the north.

“They drew them all off—all of them!” he said wonderingly.

<Oh, they hate that ship!> exulted Finley. <Yes! Go Ben!>

<There it is!> Rose yelled over the comm.

Poe saw what had caught her eye: Two tug walkers were dragging the siege cannon out in front of the main force. The tugs reminded Poe of massive beetles, stumping along on multiple hexagonal limbs. Thick cables connected the tugs to the cannon, hauling it along with minimal help from its repulsorlifts.

Their air support decimated, the First Order commanders had apparently decided to press the attack on the ground. The walkers sent blast after blast in the direction of the Resistance redoubt, scattering soldiers in the trenches.

<Our only shot is right down the throat.> Finley said as the six remaining ski speeders raced for the cannon.

* * *

The moment Rey saw the _Falcon_ from inside the command shuttle, she stamped her feet and rushed to the dashboard, shaking the pilot's chair in a fury as she pointed at the soaring frieghter.

"BLOW THAT PEICE OF FUCKING JUNK OUT OF THE SKY!!!!" she shrieked.

Hux had promptly dispatched all fighters to do so, stripping the walkers of air cover and leaving their gunners struggling to target the nimble speeders—which were racing for the siege cannon.

As Ben's ship soared from sight with a trail of pursuing TIEs, Rey calmed herself and assessed the situation.

She didn’t think the speeders could damage the massive cannon, which was almost ready to start the firing sequence. But she wasn't about to take any chances. 

“All firepower on those speeders!” she ordered.

“Concentrate all fire on the speeders!” parroted Hux.

For the first time since they boarded the shuttle, Rey turned to look directly at Hux with a murderous glare.

Hux avoided her eyes, staring directly ahead.

Rey scowled and followed his gaze, vowing to kill him the first chance she got.

* * *

“Hold tight!” Poe yelled as the walkers turned their attention away from the distant trenches and opened fire on the speeders, sending gouts of red shooting up from new craters blasted into the salt.

<That is a big gun!> Rose yelped in astonishment.

The siege cannon was like a massive gun barrel, over six hundred and fifty feet in length, with a glowing orange core. Poe banked his speeder and raked the cable connecting the cannon with one of the tug walkers, hoping to get them to drop the seige cannon and damage it in some way. Guns atop the tug walker opened up, forcing him to swerve away.

Undeterred, Poe came around for another pass, heavy fire all around him, and stared at the cable in dismay. He’d merely scorched the surface.

The core of the siege cannon began to glow brightly, and Poe saw smoke rising from it. As he watched in growing terror, the sodium began to melt in front of the cannon, the crust running like molten lava. Even at this distance, he could feel the heat of it like a miniature sun.

Another speeder exploded, hit by fire from one of the walkers. That was it. Poe was going to call the mission.

“Pull off!” he ordered.

<What?> He could hear the disbelief in Finley's voice.

“The gun’s charged. It’s a suicide run! All craft, pull away!" Poe repeated.

<No!> Finley refused. <I’m almost there!>

“Finley! Retreat!" cried Poe. "That’s an order!”

The other three ski speeders pulled away, following his lead, but Finley’s continued to race toward the cannon.

<Finley, it’s too late!> Rose yelled. <Don’t do this!>

<I won’t let them win!> Finley snapped, her voice wild.

<No!> Rose yelled. <Finley, listen to—>

She saw her rip the headset off and fling it aside. Finley was just a couple hundred feet from the cannon, seeking to fly straight down the barrel—but her speeder was already scorched and warping.

And ahead of her the air itself was burning, ignited by the blistering heat of the cannon’s tracer beam.

 _No_ , Rose thought, teeth gritted. They’d come too far together. She wouldn't lose her like she did Paige.

She banked her speeder hard, following Finley's heading.

Her medallion swung wildly on the console. She grabbed it, jamming it around her neck a moment before her speeder smashed into Finley’s, just short of the massive cannon’s glowing muzzle.

The impact sent Finley’s ski speeder tumbling out of the cannon’s path while Rose’s slewed wildly, its outrigger coming apart. Then the ground rushed up at her, a crimson-and-white whirl.

* * *

Rose forced her eyes open, awakened by the sound of Finley's urgent voice. She was slumped painfully in the twisted cockpit of her ski speeder, or what was left of it. The plain around her was a chaotic jumble of white salt chunks and red dirt, like a smashed candy cane. Finley was running toward her, a maelstrom of smoke was rising into the air behind her.

She opened her eyes and saw Finley's face next to hers, eyes full of worry.

“Why did you stop me?” Finley demanded.

Rose willed her voice to work. She had to make her understand.

“ _Saved_ you, dummy,” she said. “That’s how we’re going to win. Not fighting what we hate—saving what we love.”

The First Order cannon fired, a brilliant sun illuminating the background like a flashbulb. A massive bolt of energy crossed the plain between it and the shield door, igniting the air with a roar and sending a hot wind whipping across the salt flats.

As the shield door was torn apart, Rose inclined her head and kissed Finley—just in case she hadn’t heard her, or had missed her meaning.

The kiss was brief, but it sent electricity from Finley's lips and through her nerve endings.

Shocked, Finley caught Rose as she passed out, and she then had to take a precious moment to collect her thoughts.

What a place to make a life affirming realization: right in the middle of a battlefield after you nearly just killed yourself.

She was gay, and if the tingling on her lips, the butterflies in her stomach, and the moistness between her legs from that kiss was any indication: she loved Rose Tico, too.

And she would stop at nothing until she was safe, even if she had to fight the entire First Order herself to do it.


	51. A Renewed Hope

High above the battlefield, safe in the shelter of the command shuttle, Lady Rey watched impassively as the siege cannon went dark, its fires spent.

The massive door protecting the remnants of the Resistance was riven by a fissure down its center, and huge chunks of stone fell from the edges of the wound.

Beside Rey, Hux surveyed the damage with a mixture of awe and pleasure. She could sense his greedy, giddy anticipation. For now, at least, she could throw the mangy cur a bone.

“General Hux, advance,” she ordered. “No quarter. No prisoners.”

* * *

The Resistance officers inside the mine turned away from the enormous light and heat of the blast, keeping their faces averted until the shaking and the rumble of falling stone had subsided.

Leia lowered her hands from her face and found sunlight streaming in through the breached door.

Connix looked up from her console, where she’d been monitoring their transmissions.

"General..." she murmured. “There’s no response.”

D’Acy looked grave.

“Our distress signal has been received at multiple points,” she said. “But no response. They’ve heard us, but nobody’s coming.”

Leia’s face fell. She would liked to have been able to say something, anything, to inspire the Resistance further.

But there was nothing. And she wasn’t going to peddle false hope to these brave men and women. They deserved better.

“We fought to the end, but the galaxy has lost its hope,” she said. “The spark is out.”

An awful silence hung over the mine. Then it was broken by slow, deliberate footsteps from a darkened tunnel in the back of the chamber.

Luke Skywalker walked into the room, clad in black Jedi robes. His hands—one flesh and blood, one mechanical—reached up for his hood and pushed it back. His dark beard was just beginning to gray and his eyes were a bright blue, studying each of the Resistance fighters in turn, his gaze like an x-ray.

Leia watched her brother approach in disbelief, unsure if her distress was causing her to see things.  
  
“Luke!” she exclaimed.

“Master Luke!” Threepio said with evident delight, winning a nod and a smile from his former master.

That, finally, convinced Leia—droids didn’t hallucinate.

The Resistance remained silent as the legendary Jedi Master crossed the room to stand before his sister.

“I know what you’re going to say,” Leia said. “I changed my hair.”

“It’s nice that way,” Luke replied and then his smile faltered. “Leia ...I’m sorry.”

“I know. I know you are," Leia assured. "I’m just glad you’re here, at the end.”

Her brother’s smile returned. “This isn't the end, Leia. It's only the beginning.”

She wanted to believe. But even the presence of her long-lost brother couldn't assuage the dull ache of her heart for all of her lost loved ones. Mom, Dad, her home of Alderaan, Han, Amilyn, and --she now feared--- her son Ben and everyone else she grew to regard as an extended family.

“I held out hope for so long, but I can't anymore," Leia sighed. "Everyone, and everything we've fought for is gone."

Luke’s eyes were warm—with understanding and love, but something else, too. It was knowledge, she sensed-- a wisdom, vast and deep.

It assured her, and reminded of the Luke of her youth, despite how much he'd changed over the years.

“No one’s ever really gone,” he said quietly, leaning forward to kiss her on the forehead as he took her hands in his.

When they touched, she immediately understood. A slight smile played at the corners of her mouth, and her eyes shone with the secret the two of them now shared.

Brother and sister held each other's gaze for a moment. Then Luke let go of Leia’s hands.

Offering Threepio a wink, he walked with those same unhurried steps into the light pouring into the Resistance’s refuge, out through the shattered door, and onto the surrounding plain. 

* * *

Working quickly, Finley rigged a makeshift travois out of broken hull plating and wiring and strapped Rose to it.

She looked ahead and saw there was a long crack in the door to the old rebel base now. Finley double-checked that Rose wouldn’t fall off the contraption she’d rigged, tilted the travois, and began to pull it behind her, hurrying across the salt plains toward the distant lines of the trenches.

She kept glancing at the towering walkers, fearing that at any moment one of the huge, elephantine heads would tilt their way and open fire. But the walkers simply trudged along without taking any apparent notice of them.

After a moment she realized why. They don’t think we matter. Because they know they’ve won.

She decided to focus on crossing the plain. The battle had opened smoking red craters in the salt crust, the sodium layer shattered into chunks that grabbed at Finley's feet and left the travois bogged down.

Elsewhere, the crust was intact but dangerously slippery. The wind had picked up, and tiny flying nodules of salt stung Finley's face.

She settled into a determined jog—a pace she hoped wouldn’t exhaust her or cause Rose too much pain—and tried not to think about what would happen if she got her back to the shattered base. 

She tried to stay positive, for herself and for Rose. Ben was still out there somewhere. As long as that was true, they had hope. He wouldn’t stop believing in that, or in him.

The trenches were close now, lines of deeper red carved against the mountainside.

“... dragging me,” Rose mumbled behind her.

“What’s that?” she asked.

Finley was breathing hard now and stopped for a moment, to make sure she wasn’t hurting her any more than she had to.

Rose peered at her, eyes hazy.

“When we met I was dragging you,” she said quietly, which made Finley smile. “Now you’re dragging me.”

Still smiling, Finley nodded and then hurried for the trench. “We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?”

She reached the trench and half fell into it, then slid the travois over the lip as gently as she could.

Rose peered out at the shield door, puzzled. “Who is that?”

Finley looked and saw a man in robes walking across the salt plain. He was making his way toward the line of walkers, looking for all the world like he’d decided this battlefield was the best place in the galaxy for a stroll.

* * *

Hux saw the lone figure on the plain and peered down in disbelief as the man walked, seemingly unconcerned towards the teeth of First Order war machine.

Amused, he glanced over at Rey—and whatever he had been going to say died on his lips. Because the new Supreme Leader looked like she was staring down at a ghost.

“Stop,” Rey said.

Her order was swiftly relayed, and the mighty line of First Order walkers came to an obedient halt. They were just hundreds of feet away from the shattered door and the Resistance soldiers huddled within.

The man stopped. He looked up, into the sky, and suddenly the hair on the back of Hux’s neck rose. Somehow he knew that the man down there on the scarred landscape was looking straight at them, his gaze fixed unerringly not just on the shuttle but on one person inside.

Hux looked at Rey's face and saw terror—naked and undisguised.

“Supreme Leader?” Hux asked evenly. “Shall we advance?”

“I want every fucking gun we have to fire on that man,” Rey gritted out. “Do it!”

The first walker to receive the order opened fire, its chin guns hammering away in succession. As flames engulfed the lone man on the battlefield, the other walkers began to fire.

Rey stared with bulging eyes at the tumult of fire below, as the cloud of fire, smoke, and dust grew larger and larger. 

Hux looked from the overkill assault on the lone man to the terrified expression on Rey's face.

The Lady had never been the picture of stability, but he had never seen her lose control like this, nor show fear to anyone but Snoke.

Who was this man? Was this the very Jedi that Leader Snoke and the former Kira Ren had spent years and incalculable resources pursuing?

* * *

As the _Falcon_ raced back toward the battlefield, Ben hurried up the ladder from the gun turret and joined Chewbacca in the cockpit.

"Mom..." Dread knotted his stomach as he saw the massive crack in the shield door and the lines of the First Order AT-ATs so close to it. Then all the walkers’ guns began firing at once, focused on one precise point.

Ben and Chewbacca exchanged a bewildered glance.

“Better go around the back,” Ben suggested.

The Wookiee barked his agreement.

* * *  
There was no sign of the man who’d begun his walk across the ruined plain—just a massive conflagration of roiling fire and smoke from the energy poured into it amid the continuous thunder of the First Order guns.

In the command shuttle, Lady Rey had gotten to her feet and was staring down at the chaotic spectacle below. Her fists were clenched and there were tears in her eyes.

“More!” she screamed, her petite body vibrating with unrestrained emotion.

Hux looked at her uneasily.

“We’ve surely—” he began, but Rey cut him off.

“More!” she shrieked again.

The firing continued, the fusillade of energy tinting the white salt around the blast point orange and red.

“Enough,” roared Hux. “Enough!”

The First Order officers looked at one another uncertainly. Rey said nothing, collapsing into her chair.

After a moment, Hux’s order was obeyed and the firing stopped.

“You think you got him?” Hux asked acidly, not bothering to hide his scorn.

Far below the shuttle, the column of smoke and flame continued to whirl and churn. Rey stared down at the salt plains, but her gaze couldn’t penetrate the aftermath of the destruction.

Hux eyed Rey with disdain. “Now, if we’re ready to get moving, we can finish this.”

“M'lady..." the shuttle’s commander said tentatively.

Rey raised her eyes almost unwillingly. As if what was happening below them wouldn’t become real if she didn’t look.  
  
Out of the fiery column below stepped Luke Skywalker, his robes not so much as singed, his gaze still locked on the shuttle. He brushed invisible dust from his shoulders, his face almost bored.

Rey got to her feet, eyes riveted on her former Master.

“Bring me down to him,” she ordered the pilot. “And don’t advance our forces until I say.”

“Supreme Leader, don’t be distracted!” Hux urged. “Our goal is to kill the Resistance! They’re helpless in the mine, but every moment we waste—”

Rey harnessed the Force, used it to seize Hux, and hurled him hard into the wall of the command shuttle’s cabin. He crunched against the wall and slid to the floor, unconscious.

“Right away, M'lady,” the shuttle commander said hastily.

***

Finley entered the mine with Rose in her arms, yelling for a medpac. Resistance fighters hurried over and took Rose gently from her, moving her to a hovering gurney that had been brought up for the battle.

Finley kissed her and then stood back to allow the soldiers bear her away, head hanging from exhaustion.

Around them, the crystal fur of the foxes tinkled in the gloom.

She caught Poe staring at her in surprise.

"Poe. I--" Finley began.

"No, no," Poe shook his head and waved her off. "You don't have to explain anything to me. I'm happy for you two. Really. "

Finley smiled. "Thanks."

"You know, every time we try to get something going either I end up getting hurt, or you end up getting hurt, or--" Poe began.

"You end up trying to hook up with me," Finley supplied. "Unsuccessfully."

Poe chuckled. "If we get through this... let's just start over. You and me."

"As long as it doesn't involve crashing a TIE Fighter, I'm in," Finley nodded and looked at him until they both broke down laughing.

Together they looked out through the great crack in the door, where one man with a laser sword had gone to face down the entire First Order.

Between the arrival of the _Millennium Falcon_ and what she’d learned of Ben's mission, Finley realized who that man must be—a legend come to life, when the Resistance needed one most.

“Was that ...?” she asked Poe.

“I think ... yeah,” Poe replied.

Poe knew Luke Skywalker wasn’t a figure out of myth, but a real man—his own mother, Shara Bey, had escorted his shuttle away from the second Death Star and accompanied him on a mission after its destruction.

But then Poe had grown up on Yavin Four, playing in the shade of an Uneti tree his mother had been given by Skywalker himself, and which he’d told her was a seedling of one that had grown at Coruscant’s Jedi Temple.

Later on, Poe had honed his flight skills in Yavin’s debris ring, dodging chunks of scorched and twisted Death Star plating passed over by scavengers.

Still, Skywalker had all but vanished by the time Poe was an adolescent, pursuing ancient Jedi secrets amid strange stars.

He knew of Leia's familial connection to him, and she had regaled him of stories about him, from the time she visited his mother when he was a kid to even during his service in the Resistance.

To see him in the flesh... he could only hope the legends were true.

* * *

The command shuttle descended, engines grumbling as its huge wings folded upward. It sat silently in front of Luke for a moment, like a massive black raptor studying him. Then, with a hiss of hydraulics, the ramp lowered and Rey stepped out into the cracked chaos of the salt flats.

Luke had merely sensed her presence and briefly glimpsed her physical form when he’d inexplicably found her in bed with Ben, back on Ahch-To.

She was no longer the precocious, troubled little girl he remembered, but woman-- a dangerous black widow of a woman whose power blazed in Luke’s sense of the Force, almost radiant.

That power was fed by emotions so strong, they seemed almost to pollute the Force around her. Rage poured out of her, and a vengeful cruelty—a need to inflict pain and destruction on others-- so that they would feel the same emotions that tortured her and overpowered even those two malignancies: pain and sadness. Fear and loneliness.

They filled her, threatening to devour her.

She had been a broken girl when he and Ben had found her. But with time and care, his temple had all but mended those wounds.

Now, because of a past series of events, where his mistake had been the lynchpin, those wounds had been reopened, allowed to fester, and over the years were joined by fresh wounds.

Luke sensed that the woman who now shrouded herself in darkness was just a shell around the same broken girl he had once tried so hard to protect and nurture.

“Old man,” Rey hissed, her voice laced with venom. “Did you come back to say you forgive me? To save my soul, like Ben Solo?”

“No," Luke shook his head.

Rey snatched up her saberstaff. The crimson blades crackled and growled from both ends, flakes of salt hitting them and flowering into sparks.

"I have not come here to fight, Rey," Luke said calmly and sincerely. "I've come to ask for _your_ forgiveness."

"Fuck you," Rey spat, and she separated her saberstaff into two lightsabers.

Luke closed his eyes sadly, and his hand went slowly and deliberately to his own lightsaber, a shaft of green emerging from the hilt.

He and Rey took up their dueling stances, eyes fixed on each other, Rey's full of rage, and Luke's full of resolve.


	52. The Spark That Will Light the Fire

Poe watched the confrontation between the legendary Jedi and the new Supreme Leader of the First Order through his quadnocs. The sun was sinking toward the horizon, stretching Lady Rey's and Luke’s shadows across the plain.

“Kira Ren,” Poe told Finley. “Luke’s facing her alone.”

“She's too powerful! We should help him!” Finley cried, remembering her and Ben's struggles against the dark femme fatal. “Let’s go!”

Poe wanted to smile—was this the same Finley who’d insisted she wasn’t here to join another army?

And not so long ago, he would have reacted the same way— looking for anything he could fly and blasting off across the plains, guns blazing. But he’d learned the hard way that there were other ways to fight—and that those who chose them were no less brave.

“No,” he told the remaining Resistance fighters.  
“Skywalker’s doing this for a reason. He’s stalling him so we can escape.”

“Escape?” Finley asked, incredulous. “He’s one man against an army. We have to go help him! We have to fight!”

Leia joined them, trailed as always by Threepio. She and Poe exchanged glances and the Resistance general silently nodded to him.

“No,” Poe said. “We are the spark that will light the fire that will burn down the First Order. Luke’s doing this so we can survive. There has to be another way out of the mine. Hell, how’d he get in?”

“Sir, it is possible that a natural, unmapped opening exists,” Threepio speculated. “But this facility is such a maze of endless tunnels that the odds of finding an exit are fifteen thousand four hundred twenty-eight—”

Poe suddenly held up a finger, intent. “Shh. Shh. Shut up!”

“—to one,” Threepio concluded, feeling it would be irresponsible to leave so important a calculation incomplete.

Poe gritted his teeth and jerked his head toward the mines.

“Oh,” Threepio said. “My audio sensors no longer detect the--.”

"Exactly," gritted Poe.

He stepped a few paces away from the group, staring into the dark tunnels leading away from the main chamber. It was quiet—eerily silent.

Finley's eyes widened in realization. “Where’d the crystal critters go?”

"Mistress Finley, I believe they are called vulptices, --" Threepio interjected.

Poe shushed him again and continued to watch and listen for the creature.  
  
They detected a faint sound, and saw the eyes of one lone vulptex peering out of the darkness at them, eyes shining.

As they watched, the vulptex turned tail and hurried off down the tunnel, its fur chiming. 

“There it goes! Follow me,” Poe said, and hurried after the fox.

All eyes turned to Leia, who turned from the distant scene on the plain and nodded at them.

“What the hell are you looking at me for? Follow him.”

* * *

The _Falcon_ flew slowly over the ridgeline above the mine, searching for any sign of the Resistance or a way to get to then. Inside, R2-D2 had plugged into a dataport in the cockpit so it could access the freighter’s sensors.

The astromech whined unhappily.

“The beacon’s right beneath us, Artoo,” Ben said. “They’ve got to be somewhere. Keep scanning for life-forms.”

The droid beeped an acknowledgment and urged the freighter to switch its sensors over to focus mode, probing the rock beneath them for matches with human energy signatures.

After a few tense moments, the astromech beeped to get Ben's attention—the scan had turned up massive life readings.

Ben peered down at the mountainside, trying to match up what R2-D2 had found with what he was seeing.

“Uncle!” he said, pointing. “There!”

Below them, dozens of crystal foxes were streaming out of a fissure in the mountainside.

***

The Resistance fighters followed the fox through the warren of tunnels. Poe was worried they’d frighten the creature into hiding, but it seemed to understand that they needed to follow it, going so far as to linger when they struggled to keep pace.

Rose was toward the back of the group, unconscious thanks to a cocktail of sedatives and pain medication, with Finley trotting along anxiously next to her gurney.

At the very back were BB-8 and Threepio, the latter warning everyone within range of his voice about the various hazards of the cave complex.

Threepio had covered all manner of dangers, such as cave-ins, ebb nests, debilitating falls, fatal falls, crystal sickness, and starvation when the group emerged from a narrow tunnel into a natural cave glittering with crystal outcroppings.

The vulptex stood atop a large boulder, eyes bright in the gloom. It studied them for a moment, then hopped down from its perch, loping over to a rockfall that filled the back of the cavern. There, it somehow squeezed itself into a crack less than a foot wide, its fur jangling and tinkling against the stone.

“Oh shit,” Poe muttered, peering into the narrow exit. He could see light, but there was no way any of them could squeeze into the space.

* * *

Ben hurried down the Falcon’s ramp and scrambled down a scree of crystal shards and salt chunks into a crevasse.

A vulptex ran past him, its fur chiming and singing, and leapt from outcropping to outcropping to reach the top of the ridge.

Searching for where the animal had come from, he found a small crack in a massive wall of tightly packed boulders.

Ben stepped back to study the tumbled landscape, setting his jaw and taking a deep breath.

He had to try and move those rocks.

 _"Do or do not: there is no try,"_ his Uncle Luke would tell him when his master would teach him a new and unfamiliar facet of the Force.

 _Do move those rocks_. There was no do not, can not remove those rocks.

He failed to save his fellow padawans from the death brought by the Knights of Ren.

He failed to protect Rey and stop the abduction that would warp her into the dangerous Kira Ren, ready to enact the same sort of atrocity that had befallen her brothers and sisters at the temple.

He could not, would not let this come to pass. 

_Move those rocks!_

_***_

Rey and Luke regarded each other, their lightsabers humming between them. Each methodically adjusted their stances, eyes locked on the other. Around them drifted flakes of salt, light as ash.

“I failed you, Rey” Luke said sadly. “I’m so sorry.”

“I’m sure you are,” Rey hissed. “The Resistance is dead. The war is over. And when I kill you, I’ll have killed the last Jedi.”

She waited to see what her former Master would say, bracing to defend against a lightning-fast strike.

But Luke simply shook his head 

"You're wrong, Rey. The Rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning. And I will not be the last Jedi.”

* * *

It began with a quaver, and the slightest trickle of dust and bits of rock.

Poe, hardly daring to believe it, gestured for the Resistance soldiers to step back from the rockfall sealing them inside the mine. But it was true—the stones were moving, first one by one and then several at a time.

Finley watched in awe as she held Rose’s limp hand, as daylight appeared at the top of the tumbled heap of rock.

Leia smiled knowingly as boulder after boulder rose into the air, revealing a tunnel. In contrast, Threepio shuffled back and forth in distress as the Resistance soldiers hurried past him, rushing out into the crevasse revealed beyond.

Finley emerged from the tunnel to discover Ben standing at its mouth, boulders floating in the air around him. His eyes were closed and his jaw was was set in deep concentration.

He opened his eyes and the boulders crashed down to the ground.

As the other Resistance soldiers regarded Ben in astonishment, Finley rushed forward, calling his name.

For a moment she was afraid that Rose had been right—that this Ben who could lift mountainsides would be utterly changed in other ways, too, with no trace left of the grinning smuggler she’d followed halfway across the galaxy from Jakku.

And he _was_ different. But the old Ben wasn’t gone.

He grinned that boyish grin of his and she collided into his arms, And she found herself sobbing and laughing at the same time, and she held him tight.

"You came back," Finley said into his chest.

"Just paying you back for Starkiller," Ben replied.

He looked up as Leia emerged from the tunnel, beaming proudly at her son.

Ben nodded and gestured to the _Falcon_. "Need a lift?"

Finley grimaced at the phrase. "Boy, have I got a _lot_ to tell you."

* * *

“Ben,” Rey said, speaking his name like it was poison. " _You_. Betrayers! I will destroy all of you and the Light you hold dear!"

Luke searched Rey's eyes, found them full of fury and hurt.

Then he turned off his lightsaber. His face was calm, accepting. “Let go of your hate and learn to forgive, Rey. Strike me down in anger and I will always be with you."

Screaming, Rey rushed at the defenseless Luke Skywalker with both sabers and brought them down, one through Luke’s head and through his torso, simultaneously. The twin sabers passed through the Jedi Master, meeting no resistance, as if it had passed through a ghost.

* * *

**Luke Skywalker's Island, Ahch-To**

On Ahch-To, the suns were setting, bathing the peak of the mountain housing the Jedi temple in luminous orange.

On the ledge overlooking the sea, Luke Skywalker floated a few inches above the stone.

Pebbles hovered around him. His eyes were closed and his legs crossed. His face was strained, and beneath his gray beard the tendons of his neck stood out. Tears streamed down his face as he poured his strength, his very essence, into the Force.

Behind him the peak shuddered, shedding dust and chunks of debris.

* * *

**Crait**

Rey staggered, but recovered her footing and aimed another vicious slash at Luke.

Once again, her lightsaber blade met nothing but emptiness.

Rey screamed and continued to slash futilely at Luke's immaterial form.

He then closed his eyes and vanished, leaving Rey alone on the shattered plain, flakes of salt falling around her like snow.

Rey's blazing eyes leapt to the mine, and the stone door the First Order’s cannon had blasted open.

“NNNNNOOOOOO!” she shrieked, falling to her knees. “NNNNNNOOOOOOOO!”

***

**Luke Skywalker's Island, Ahch-To**

Luke opened his eyes and fell onto the ledge, the pebbles plunking down around him. He lay on his back, his breathing ragged with exhaustion. The twin suns had touched the horizon and were sinking into the ocean.

Around him, the island was wild and alive, the Force like the oceans, with all of its currents and ripples.

Its energies were fed by the flora and fauna-- all generators of the Force, yet none were its containers. Its energy escaped the fragile, temporary boundaries of their bodies and spread until it surrounded and permeated everything.

Luke heard the wail of the wind and the cries of the birds. He heard his own faltering breaths as he struggled to get up, and the rhythmic thumping of his heart in his chest.

He managed to sit up and he stared out into the twin suns of Ahch-To, looking to the future like he did over thirty years prior as a naive but adventurous youth on Tatooine.

It was time. There would be no more future for him, in this body, but he had given his sister and nephew a chance at the future.

He had shown Rey, the student he had failed, another way, beyond violence, beyond hate and regret, a lesson he himself had learn to move beyond the self-hatred and bitterness that left him to rot for almost a decade. Whether she took that path would be up to the will of the Force. 

The very Force he was to become one with.

His body faded away, leaving the ledge empty. In the spot where he had been, the Force rippled and shivered, leaving only his robe, which was carried into the vast ocean by the wind.

But a moment later this disturbance was lost amid countless other currents of an autumn evening on the island, and the Force continued as it always had, luminous and vast and eternal.


	53. Regroup

**Crait**

Ben could feel the moment his uncle's life ended and his essence transformed into the Force.

He looked to his mother, dismayed. She felt it too.

"He's gone," Ben said to her as the weary Resistance soldiers hurried up the _Millennium Falcon’_ s ramp. "For real this time."

"No one's ever really gone," Leia said warmly. "Look past your feelings and search the Force."

Ben took a moment to close his eyes, letting the Force flow through him.

"He didn't feel sadness or pain," Ben opened his eyes. He smiled slightly. "He found peace. And purpose.”

"Yes," Leia took his hand. "Now, Ben. Let's go. Let's not let his brave sacrifice be in vain."

* * *

Supreme Leader Rey and her entourage of generals and officers stormed through the rent in the massive stone door, stormtroopers hurrying behind her with their rifles ready, hunting for enemies.

But there was no one to meet them—just empty transports and a jumble of discarded equipment.

Rey, her face a mask of fury, swept into the control center. It was empty, too— deserted. She stalked around it, teeth bared, and the stormtroopers quickly found a reason they needed to be elsewhere.

General Hux, roused from unconsciousness at the start of the base's post-battle storming, warily kept his distance as Rey scanned through the abandoned control center, drawn in despite himself.

Inside, Rey felt a tremor in the Force, the prelude to a familiar connection.

She stared at Ben. He stared back at her, his gaze level and unafraid. There was no hatred or anger in his eyes... but there was disappointment there. Vindictiveness.

Rey reached towards him pleadingly, but moment later Ben severed the connection, leaving her alone in the gloom.

She flinched like she had been slapped as she stared at the blank wall.

"Ben," she murmured, her voice breaking as she said the lone syllable.

Suddenly, Rey's bleary eyes darted to her right when she heard a minute shift in that direction.

Hux stood frozen at the doorway of the control center, his eyes wide in shock.

He had heard her, and witnessed her entreaty to the unseen Ben Solo.

Hux turned to bear a hasty retreat, but found that he couldn't move, frozen in place.

"You fancied yourself commander of this operation, didn't you, General Hux?" Rey hissed.

"S-Supreme Leader..." Hux stuttered.

"To think you weren't even awake to see the loss that should have been a surefire victory," Rey taunteded. "You failed the Order, General."

Hux gritted his teeth. He couldn't do much more than that.

"Do you know the price of failure, Hux?" Rey asked acidly.

"M'lady, p-please..." Hux found himself begging. "I--"

Rey raised her hand to him, and the general flew forward at great velocity towards the Supreme Leader, and was impaled by the fiery lightsaber she held in her left hand.

"Death," Rey answered, the very last word Armitage Hux ever heard.

He was dead before his body flew into the embankment of computer consoles, destroying them in a shower of sparks and a choke of smoke.

Stormtroopers rushed in to investigate the commotion, their helmeted heads tracking the murdered General Hux atop the ruined computer embankment to their young Supreme Leader growling at them like a feral animal with her still-lit saberstaff half.

Moments passed, and Rey deactivated her saberstaff and straightened herself out. She wiped the pooling tears in her eyes and brushed the salt dust off her clothes. Without another word, she pushed past her stormtroopers and left the control center as if nothing happened.

* * *

The _Millennium_ _Falcon_ rose on its repulsors, engine whining, then spun gracefully and vanished into the skies of Crait, the shock wave of its passing rippling the fur of several foxes watching from a rocky outcrop.

A few minutes later the battered freighter emerged from the planet’s envelope of atmosphere. Before anyone aboard the First Order’s Star Destroyers could issue an order, it had disappeared into hyperspace.

The hold became crowded with Resistance fighters and pilots. Threepio was telling Artoo about the many indignities he’d endured since they’d separated on D’Qar, while BB-8 listened and clucked sympathetically.

Ben spied Finley in the other side of the hold tending to Rose as she laid in the _Falcon_ ’s relief bunk, a diagnostic scanner monitoring her vital signs, while Finley rummaged in the compartments beneath the bunks, extracting a blanket and gently draping it over Rose’s sleeping form. She gave her a kiss on the cheek, and she caught Ben's eyes and blushed.

Ben smiled and waved at her.

"Answers that question," he chuckled as he felt a tap on his shoulder.

He turned and came face-to-face with the pilot from Starkiller Base.

"Ben Solo, huh?" the pilot said, holding out his hand to him. "Poe Dameron."

Ben shook his hand. The name was familiar.

"Kes and Shara Bey Dameron?" Ben asked.

Poe nodded. "Yeah. My mom and dad. I saw a lot of your mom growing up but never you. But I've definitely heard a _lot_ about you."

He jerked his head towards Finley.

Ben chuckled. "Yeah. I was usually out with my dad and uncles a lot more than Mom. Politics were never my thing."

Poe's expression then became sympathetic, patting Ben on the arm. "Yeah. I'm sorry about them, man. Your dad was an inspiration to so many pilots out there... and, uh, what your Uncle Luke just did..."

"Thanks, Poe. I appreciate that." Ben nodded and then slapped Poe in the arm. "Now I hear you're quite the pilot yourself. The best pilot in the Resistance?"

Poe grinned. "That's what they say."

Ben saw his mother over Poe's shoulder, gesturing for him to join her on her way to the cockpit.

"Well, get ready to settle for second best," Ben slapped Poe on the arm again and headed abruptly to his mother, leaving Poe with an expression of shocked amusement in his wake.

Leia greeted him with a grave expression when he caught up with her.

"We need to tell Chewie," she said.

Ben sighed and then took her hand. "Yeah."

The two made there way to the cockpit, leaving the chattering of the hold.

Inside, Chewbacca sat in the pilot’s seat, his enormous hairy hands stroking the head and back of his adopted porg. The creature chirped in contentment, and Chewie looked up at them when they entered.

He put the porg down in a small nest he made on the dashboard, and stood up to greet them, towering over both.

Leia’s steps carried her to just the pilot's chair, but no farther. She stopped with her hand on the seat’s back.

“Chewie...” she said, then stopped, needing a moment to control her emotions. “Luke... gave his life for us. To buy us time. To save us.”

The Wookiee whined, a small sound almost lost deep in his throat. His hands fell into his lap and he slumped back in his seat.

"He did find peace and purpose in the end, Uncle," Ben said. "I sensed it."

He and Chewbacca shared a look. Should they tell Leia the real reason why Luke was on Ahch-To?

Then Leia answered their question for them. "I know why he was there, Ben. We were twins. Bonded in the Force. When he came back, he revealed to me he was a projection. We couldn't touch physically, but we could touch through the Force. He shared with me his great shame."

"Mom..." Ben began. He had so much to tell her.

"Ben, this is not the time nor place to discuss the mistakes he made in his life," her expression became stern. "All that matters right now is that he came back in the end and was exactly who we needed him to be."

"Mom, I..." Ben tried to find the words. They then found themselves in each other's arms, holding each other tight.

Leia realized tears were pooling at the corners of her eyes and tried to stop them, irritated with herself. But it was no use.

Leia buried her face into his chest and finally allowed herself to weep, to surrender to the grief that had filled her to overflowing.

"So many losses, Ben," sobbed Leia. "So many losses..."

Chewie joined them, enveloping them in his wide embrace.

“It’s just us now,” Ben said. “But we’ll find a way.”

They stood like that, Leia’s chest heaving, until she was able to master herself and step away.

She stared out into the infinity of hyperspace until her breathing was slow and regular again, and she knew she was ready to be what her son, and the people waiting in the _Falcon_ ’s hold, needed her to be.

Ben took a hand and Chewie took the other, and they led her out into the hold.

When Finley saw Chewie enter the hold, she waved him over and met him halfway for a hearty embrace.

Ben smiled, but a nagging feeling persisted in the back of his mind.

He took the halves of sundered Skywalker saber out of the pouch on his belt and stared at them for a few moments before looking to the handful of injured, exhausted Resistance fighters that took their refuge in hold of his father's frieghter.

“Rey is more dangerous than ever,” he said. “She has a vendetta and an army to carry it out. How do we build a rebellion from this?”

Leia just put her hand on Ben’s and smiled. “We have everything we need.”

Ben looked from his mother's hand on his and back to the hold.

The Resistance fighters were hurt, yes, but they didn't look defeated. They looked hopeful. Some were joking, laughing. Others were planning their next move.

He looked to Finley, back at Rose's bedside, talking animatedly about her and Rose's misadventures to an attentive Chewbacca.

Poe joined them, as did Kaydel Ko Connix. She smiled and held out her hand to him. Poe smiled back and took her hand, and she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Go," Leia said, rubbing Ben's shoulder. "Go to your friends."

Ben put his opposite hand on her hand as she squeezed his shoulder. "You gonna be okay?"

"I'll manage," Leia replied. She nodded to her waiting officers, and gave Ben's shoulder one last squeeze as he made his way toward his friends.

The Resistance may have had everything it needed, but even as Ben approached Finley's embrace, he couldn't help but feel that maybe he himself didn't have everything he needed.

He smiled when he was supposed to, responded when he had to, but his heart really wasn't in it.

A peice of him was missing, he realized. A peice that he shut off and denied.

A peice that was now his sworn enemy.

Nonetheless, for as long as they would be apart, he would be incomplete.

Rey.

Is this how his mom feels without his father? Without Luke? Like a peice is missing?

It was because of her that his mother lost a husband, lost a brother. It was because of her that he lost a father, lost an uncle.

Yet, despite of all that, he still felt that need for her. Longing. 

It could have been their bond in the Force, it could have been the compassion he had always felt for her. It could have been the two had always been one and the same, intertwined and indistinguishable-- for he couldn't bring himself to hate her, no matter how many reasons he had.

All he could do hope the Force would show him the way.

As his Uncle Chewie wrapped his great hairy arm around his shoulders and gesticulated the path of an imaginary _Millennium Falcon_ with his other hand to his audience, Ben realized that he may have not had everything he needed, but he had enough.

And that would do.


End file.
